Would I refer to it as mRNA or hnRNA??

[pineappletree]

Once a RNA sequence is freshly transcribed from the antisense strand, I was wondering... would it be acceptable to refer to this strand as a mRNA? Or is it unequivocally a hnRNA?



I also read that tRNA and rRNA also undergo processing. Are these called by any other name before they are processed??

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[loveoforganic]

Pretty sure this is beyond the scope of the MCAT. In my biochem class, we didn't even distinguish between the two. It was just mRNA premodification and postmodification.

 

[Sikara]

I somehow doubt you would need to know this level of detail on the MCAT.


Assuming we are talking about eukaryotes, the freshly transcribed RNA is called the "primary transcript." It has to undergo a bunch of processing including addition of the 5' cap, poly-A tail, and splicing via the spliceosome, and finally exported out of the nucleus, before it can be called mRNA.

mRNA in eukaryotes:
1. 5' cap
2. poly-A tail
3. undergone splicing