That’s where messenger RNA, or mRNA for short, comes in. Cells rely on proteins to carry out the many processes necessary for the body to function. The genes are the details in the DNA blueprint for all the physical characteristics that make you uniquely you.īut the information from your genes has to get from the DNA in the nucleus out to the main part of the cell – the cytoplasm – where proteins are assembled. It’s protected in a part of the cell called the nucleus. (ttsz/iStock via Getty Images Plus)ĭNA is found inside the cells of every living thing.
Messenger RNA carries genetic information from DNA in the highly protected nucleus out to the rest of the cell, where structures called ribosomes can build proteins according to the DNA blueprint. It’s the molecule that contains all of your genes spelled out in a four-letter code – A, C, G and T. Here’s a crash course in just what mRNA is and the important job it does. Scientists think RNA originated in the earliest life forms, even before DNA existed. It evolved billions of years ago and is naturally found in every cell in your body. But mRNA itself is not a new invention from the lab. It’s the key ingredient in the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
One surprising star of the coronavirus pandemic response has been the molecule called mRNA.
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