GC: n
S: NIH – https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Messenger-RNA-mRNA (last access: 10 December 2024); SDir – https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/messenger-rna (last access: 10 December 2024).
N: 1. – messenger (n): c. 1200, messager (late 12c. as a surname), “one who bears a message; the bearer of a verbal or written communication,” from Old French messagier “messenger, envoy, ambassador,” from message (see message (n.)). With unetymological –n– inserted by c. 1300 for no apparent reason except that people liked to say it that way (compare passenger, harbinger, scavenger). From c. 1200 as “a harbinger, forerunner, precursor” (in reference to John the Baptist as the precursor of Christ).
– RNA (abbrev): 1948, abbreviation of ribonucleic acid (see ribonucleic).
2. Also known as: mRNA, messenger ribonucleic acid.
- messenger RNA (mRNA), molecule in cells that carries codes from the DNA in the nucleus to the sites of protein synthesis in the cytoplasm (the ribosomes). The molecule that would eventually become known as mRNA was first described in 1956 by scientists Elliot Volkin and Lazarus Astrachan. In addition to mRNA, there are two other major types of RNA: ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and transfer RNA (tRNA).
3. Because information in DNA cannot be decoded directly into proteins, it is first transcribed, or copied, into mRNA (see transcription). Each molecule of mRNA encodes the information for one protein (or more than one protein in bacteria), with each sequence of three nitrogen-containing bases in the mRNA specifying the incorporation of a particular amino acid within the protein. The mRNA molecules are transported through the nuclear envelope into the cytoplasm, where they are translated by the rRNA of ribosomes (see translation).
4. Genetics: messenger ribonucleic acid, mRNA, messenger RNA, mRNA.
- Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a single-stranded RNA molecule that is complementary to one of the DNA strands of a gene. The mRNA is an RNA version of the gene that leaves the cell nucleus and moves to the cytoplasm where proteins are made. During protein synthesis, an organelle called a ribosome moves along the mRNA, reads its base sequence, and uses the genetic code to translate each three-base triplet, or codon, into its corresponding amino acid.
S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=messenger+RNA (last access: 10 December 2024). 2 & 3. EncBrit – https://www.britannica.com/science/messenger-RNA (last access: 10 December 2024). 4. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=messenger+RNA&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 10 December 2024).
SYN: messenger ribonucleic acid, mRNA, mRNA. (depending on context)
S: TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=messenger+RNA&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 10 December 2024)
