DNA & RNA

The difference between DNA and RNA in the most basic way is that DNA is double stranded whereas RNA is single stranded. The next difference is that DNA is made from deoxyribose and RNA is made from ribose. Ribose has a hydroxyl group attached to it, making it less stable. The third difference is in the complementary nucleotides that DNA and RNA encode for. DNA has thymine (T), guanine (G), adenine (A) and cytosine (C). G is always paired with C and A is always paired with T in DNA. In RNA, there is no thymine, so adenine is paired instead with uracil (U). DNA is contained within the nucleus of a cell and cannot leave. The job of RNA is to copy a strand of DNA in the nucleus to carry out the manufacture of a specific protein, carry the code outside into the cytoplasm of the cell, where it attaches to a ribosome that manufactures amino acids. Each strand of RNA can carry the recipe for several amino acids.