Deoxyribonucleic acid and Ribonucleic acid (DNA and RNA)

Deoxyribonucleic acid (**DNA**) and ribonucleic acid (**RNA**) are the two primary types of nucleic acids found in all living organisms. **DNA** serves as the long-term storage medium for genetic information, encoding instructions necessary for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction. It is typically double-stranded with a deoxyribose sugar backbone and four bases—adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine[7][10]. **RNA** is usually single-stranded with a ribose sugar backbone; it contains uracil instead of thymine[7][10]. RNA’s main roles include carrying instructions from DNA to make proteins (*messenger RNA*), forming part of the protein-synthesizing machinery (*ribosomal RNA*), transferring amino acids during protein synthesis (*transfer RNA*), and regulating gene expression (*microRNAs*, *siRNAs*)[2][5].\n\nBoth molecules are essential for life but are not considered therapeutic targets themselves like receptors or enzymes. Instead, they serve as substrates or templates that can be targeted by drugs designed to modulate gene expression or disrupt pathogenic processes at the nucleic acid level. Drugs such as antisense oligonucleotides bind specific sequences on mRNA to inhibit translation; chemotherapeutics may intercalate into DNA strands to prevent cell division.\n\nBecause \"DNA and RNA\" refers collectively to two distinct classes of molecules rather than a single targetable entity—and because neither is a receptor nor an enzyme—the entry is considered incorrect as a therapeutic target under standard drug discovery conventions. Each should be described separately if detailed pharmacological targeting information is required.\n\n> \"The central dogma of molecular biology is 'DNA makes RNA makes protein.' This general rule emphasizes the order of events from transcription through translation...\"[1]\n\n> \"Ribonucleic acid...performs many roles in the cell...carrying biological information...regulating functions...\"[2]

Other names

Nucleic acidsGenetic materialGenome (for DNA)Transcriptome (for RNA)

Inhibition of gene expression by binding to mRNA or pre-mRNA\n- Intercalation into DNA to disrupt replication/transcription