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Why does mRNA resemble the non-template strand of DNA more than the template strand?
So from my understanding, mRNA and the template strand of DNA are basically identical with the only difference being for every thymine there's a uracil on mRNA. Why does it resemble the non-template strand of DNA instead of the template strand? Why can't it more closely resemble the template strand instead?
Woops, I posted this about 50 times. My b for spamming the Biology section.
@Punk Rock and Minerals: I understand that, I just don't really understand why the coding strand is the one that gets coded. Is there a specific reason that the template strand isn't the one that gets coded? Or is that just the way it is?
3 Answers
- ?Lv 77 years agoFavorite Answer
> So from my understanding, mRNA and the template strand of DNA are basically identical with the only difference being for every thymine there's a uracil on mRNA
No. Using the wikipedia definition of these things, the RNA is transcribed from the template strand, and is therefore the RNA is complementary and antiparallel to the template strand.
>. Why does it resemble the non-template strand of DNA instead of the template strand?
Since the RNA is complementary and antiparallel to the template strand, the RNA has the same sequence (with U replacing T) and directionality as the nontemplate strand.
The nontemplate strand is also known as the coding strand and the sense strand (again using Wikipedia definitions for these).
- 7 years ago
because it's copied off the coding strand, which is the mirror image of it (except T is U in RNA) just like the Template is the mirror image of the Coding strand
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