What are advantages of deoxy nature of DNA over RNA and Thymine over uracil???

DeoxyVsDioxy

IF its say hydrolysis... why is it harmful... it may be due to blokage of enzyme activity as no free -OH gr is present in hydrolysed form, but RNAs have enzymes working on them that require presence of free -OH group [primase??? ], so the frequency of hydrolysis in RNA should be very less.So how come it is a deciding factor???

 

 

hrushikesh

I would help if I could, but I'm afraid I'll have to pass on your questions.

 

Airmid.

the deoxy nature makes DNA far more stable than RNA. This is important since DNA acts like an archive of information, from which transient RNA messages are copied. DNA is about 100,000 times more resistant to random hydrolysis than RNA is. It also protects it from catalysed hydrolysis by RNase.

Thabks for that 100000 times thing, i didn't have any concrete info before...

And about Thymine Vs Uracil - i think methylation would help me explain it...i'm thinking...

 

 

hrushikesh

Chemical structure

RNA is primarily made up of four different bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and uracil. The first three are the same as those found in DNA, but uracil replaces thymine as the base complementary to adenine. This base is also a pyrimidine and is very similar to thymine. Uracil is energetically less expensive to produce than thymine, which may account for its use in RNA. In DNA, however, uracil is readily produced by chemical degradation of cytosine, so having thymine as the normal base makes detection and repair of such incipient mutations more efficient. Thus, uracil is appropriate for RNA, where quantity is important but lifespan is not, whereas thymine is appropriate for DNA where maintaining sequence with high fidelity is more critical.

This is from Wikipedia. It should help you.

DNA also lasts longer.

thanks that just cleared it off!

Thanks, i didn't check the web neatly & still you helped.

 

 

hrushikesh