DNA and RNA are the life molecules that are responsible for decoding genetic information.

Watson and Crick provided the first successful model for the double helix of DNA in 1953. According to
their model, DNA consisted of two strands arranged in a helix and connected via hydrogen bonds. One
strand of DNA consisted of four nucleotide bases: adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine. Adenine
pairs with thymine by two hydrogen bonds, and guanine pairs with cytosine via three hydrogen bonds.
On the other hand, ribonucleic acid is another single-stranded nucleic acid that has nucleotides bases.
The bases in the RNA’s nucleotides includes adenine, guanine, uracil, and cytosine.

The key structural differences in DNA and RNA as follows:

1. Unlike DNA that has deoxyribose sugar, RNA has ribose sugar. In RNA, a hydroxyl group occupies
the second carbon of ribose sugar while the hydroxyl group at the second carbon of sugar is
absent in DNA. Therefore, the latter is known as deoxyribose nucleic acid, while RNA is known as
ribose-nucleic acid.
2. The helical form of DNA is the B-form while RNA form helix in A-form that predominantly adopts
the helix's B-form as it has a 2' hydroxyl group that interferes with the B-form arrangement of
sugars in the phosphate backbone. The two strands forming the double helix are not
symmetrical and antiparallel, and then it is called A-form, whereas B-form is the commonly
found form of DNA where the two strands run opposite each other.
3. The RNA is a single-stranded nucleic acid in which the bases are paired in self complimentary
manner while DNA is a double-stranded nucleic acid.
4. In the nitrogenous bases of RNA, Thymine is replaced by Uracil, being then Adenine, Guanine,
and Cytosine.
5. The molecular weight of RNA is less than that of DNA