• RNA uses ribose, DNA uses deoxyribose
  • Ribose has extra O on 2’ carbon
    • Extra O can link to phosphate group, causing self-cleave
• DNA is more stable
  • Double strands protects sides using negative charges
  • Prevents potential hydrolosis
• RNA is cheaper to create
  • Half the cost of DNA
  • Nitrogen for nitrogenous bases is small part of diet
  • RNA uses uracil, DNA uses thymine
    • Uracil requires less resources than thymine
    • Cytosine can degrade into uracil, more likely over longer time
    • DNA can remove all uracil, since it only uses thymine
• RNA has more diverse functions
  • DNA can compact to varying degrees
    • Used to store DNA in a tiny nucleus
    • Most condensed form forms a chromosome
  • For mitosis, copy all DNA and split to two cells
    • Requires fully condensed DNA
  • Can be transcribed into RNA
    • Different types of RNA do different functions
    • mRNA is read by ribosome to create proteins
    • miRNA targets and destroys double stranded RNA