‘Comparing RNA and DNA Procedure 1. Use construction paper and cut out shapes of sugars, phosphates, and bases to make a strand of DNA. 2. Separate the DNA strand. Use the left strand as the pattern for making a strand of RNA. 3. Find out what different parts you will need and cut those from the construction paper. 4, Make the RNA model. Analysis 1. Look at the order of bases in the DNA strand. What is the order of bases in the RNA strand? 2. If the new strand of RNA that you have made were a piece of mRNA, what RNA would link up with it in the cytoplasm? 3. Two new colors of construc- tion paper will be needed to add RNA to the model. Why? How does a cell know which proteins to make? The gene gives the directions for the order in which amino acids will be arranged. This order results in a particular protein. RNA In Chapter 2, you learned that proteins are made on ribo- somes in cytoplasm. How does the code in the nucleus reach the ribosomes out in the cytoplasm? The codes for making, proteins are carried from the nucleus to the ribosomes by a second type of nucleic acid, called ribonucleic acid or RNA. RNA is different from DNA in that it is made up of only one strand, and it contains a nitrogen base called uracil (U) in place of thymine and the sugar ribose. RNA is made in the nucleus on a DNA pattern. ‘Two different kinds of RNA are made from DNA in the nucleus—messenger RNA (mRNA) and transfer RNA (tRNA). Protein assembly begins as mRNA moves out of the nucleus and attaches to ribosomes in the cytoplasm. This process is illustrated in Figure 4-15. Pieces of t8NA pick up amino acids in the cytoplasm and bring them to the ribosomes. There, tRNA temporarily matches with mRNA and the amino acids become arranged according to the code carried by mRNA. The amino acids become bonded together, and a protein molecule begins to form. Figure 4-15 RNA carries the code for a protein from the nucleus to the ribosome. There, its message is translated into a specific protein. 108 Chapter 4 Cell Reproduction