Definition of RNA in US English:
RNA
nounˌä ˌren ˈāˌɑ ˌrɛn ˈeɪ
Biochemistry Ribonucleic acid, a nucleic acid present in all living cells. Its principal role is to act as a messenger carrying instructions from DNA for controlling the synthesis of proteins, although in some viruses RNA rather than DNA carries the genetic information.
Example sentencesExamples
- Wheat streak mosaic virus is little more than a genetic snippet of ribonucleic acid.
- Anfinsen's work in the late 1960s demonstrated that understanding the chemistry of proteins was essential to understanding the function of ribonucleic acid in heredity.
- In 1959 Nirenberg began his investigations into the relationship between deoxyribonucleic acid, ribonucleic acid and the production of proteins.
- Patients who had developed physical signs or symptoms of liver disease were more likely to have been infected for longer, to be positive for HCV ribonucleic acid, and to have acquired their infections at an older age.
- Swine influenza presents a special challenge in genetics because its genome comprises eight segments of ribonucleic acid, better known as RNA.