Ribonucleic acid (RNA)

Uracil pairs with adenine via two hydrogen bonds during transcription, mirroring the adenine-thymine interaction in DNA.

Ribonucleoside monophosphates (ribonucleotides) link together via condensation reactions to build the polymeric RNA strand.

Transfer RNA contains an anticodon loop with three specific bases complementary to an mRNA codon.

Messenger RNA is rapidly degraded by ribonucleases after translation to control the rate of protein synthesis dynamically.

Retroviruses lack DNA in their viral particles and utilize RNA to store their complete hereditary information.