Mature messenger RNA, often abbreviated as mature mRNA is a

eukaryotic Eukaryotes () are organisms whose Cell (biology), cells have a cell nucleus, nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the ...

RNA transcript that has been

spliced Spliced may refer to: *Spliced, the result of rope splicing Rope splicing in ropework is the forming of a semi-permanent joint between two ropes or two parts of the same rope by partly untwisting and then interweaving their strands. Splices ca ...

and processed and is ready for

translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

in the course of protein synthesis. Unlike the

RNA immediately after

transcription Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including: Genetics * Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, the fir ...

known as

precursor messenger RNA A primary transcript is the single-stranded ribonucleic acid ( RNA) product synthesized by transcription of DNA, and processed to yield various mature RNA products such as mRNAs, tRNAs, and rRNAs. The primary transcripts designated to be mRNAs ...

, mature mRNA consists exclusively of exons and has all introns removed. MRNA Maturation

Mature mRNA is also called "mature transcript", "mature RNA" or "mRNA". The production of a mature mRNA molecule occurs in 3 steps: # Capping of the 5' end # Polyadenylation of the 3' end # RNA Splicing of the introns

Capping the 5' End

During

capping Capping may refer to: * the creation of five-prime (5') caps in a cell nucleus ** Capping enzyme * Capping in sport, making an appearance in a game at international level *Ambulance chasing, the practice of lawyers seeking clients at a disaster ...

, a 7-methylguanosine residue is attached to the 5'-terminal end of the primary transcripts.This is otherwise known as the GTP or 5' cap. The 5' cap is used to increase mRNA stability. Further, the 5' cap is used as an attachment point for ribosomes. Beyond this, the 5' cap has also been shown to have a role in exporting the mature mRNA from the nucleus and into the cytoplasm.

Polyadenylation

In polyadenylation, a poly- adenosine tail of about 200 adenylate residues is added by a nuclear polymerase post-transcriptionally. This is known as a Poly-A tail and is used for stability and guidance, so that the mRNA can exit the nucleus and find the ribosome. It is added at a polyadenylation site in the 3' untranslated region of the mRNA, cleaving the mRNA in the process. When there are multiple polyadenylation sites on the same mRNA molecule, alternative polyadenylation can occur. See polyadenylation for further details.

RNA Splicing

Pre-mRNA has both introns and exons. As a part of the maturation process, RNA splicing removes the non-coding RNA introns leaving behind the exons, which are then spliced and joined together to form the mature mRNA. Splicing is conducted by the

spliceosome A spliceosome is a large ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex found primarily within the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. The spliceosome is assembled from small nuclear RNAs ( snRNA) and numerous proteins. Small nuclear RNA (snRNA) molecules bind to specif ...

. The spliceosome is a large ribonucleoprotein which cleaves the RNA at the splicing site and recombines the exons of the RNA. Similar to polyadenylation, alternative splicing can occur, resulting in several possible proteins being translated from the same portion of DNA. See RNA Splicing for further details.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mature Messenger Rna Gene expression Proteins Biosynthesis Metabolism RNA