RNAsekvenssi

RNAsekvenssi refers to the sequence of ribonucleotides that make up an RNA molecule. The four nucleotides are adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and uracil (U). RNA sequences are typically read from the 5' end to the 3' end and are often represented as strings of the letters A, C, G, and U. RNA can be coding (messenger RNA, mRNA) or noncoding (ribosomal RNA, rRNA; transfer RNA, tRNA; regulatory RNAs such as microRNA, long noncoding RNA, and others). In mRNA, the sequence may include a 5' cap, a 5' untranslated region (UTR), an open reading frame (ORF) that encodes protein, a 3' UTR, and a polyadenylate tail in mature transcripts; many noncoding RNAs have distinct processing and functional features.

RNA sequences can fold into secondary structures through base pairing, forming stems and loops that influence stability and function. RNA genomes, such as those of some viruses, are themselves RNA sequences with native structures important for replication and translation.

Sequencing and analysis: RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) technologies retrieve RNA sequences by converting RNA to complementary DNA and sequencing it. Reads are aligned to reference genomes or transcriptomes or assembled de novo to reconstruct transcripts. Analyses include identifying splice variants, quantifying gene expression, detecting RNA editing events, and discovering novel RNA species.

Applications and context: RNA sequences are central to transcriptomics, functional genomics, diagnostics, virology, and evolutionary biology. They are used to study gene expression patterns, regulatory networks, and the functional roles of coding and noncoding RNAs across organisms.