Question
Write the important structural and functional differences between DNA and RNA.
Solution
| DNA | RNA |
| 1.DNA exists as double helix. | 1. RNA exists-as single chain. |
| 2. It is high polymer containing 2500 to 5000 nucleotides. | 2. It is relatively smaller polymer containing 75 to 1200 nucleotides. |
| 3.In DNA. the sugar is deoxyribose. | 3.In RNA the sugar unit is ribose. |
| 4. The base units in DNA are adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. | 4. The base units in RNA are adenine, guanine, cytosine and uracil. |
| 5.Uracil is absent in DNA. | 5. Thymine is absent in RNA. |
| 6. The hydrolysis products of DNA are phosphoric acid, deoxyribose, the bases A, G, C and T. |
6. The hydrolysis products of RNA are phosphoric acid, ribose and bases A.G, C and U. |
