Question

The term 'genetic RNA' refers to
A. Genetic material of RNA viruses
B. The RNA that carries genetic message
C. The RNA that help gene regulation in lac-operon
D. The RNA present in mitochondria

Answer 1

RNA is found in absence of DNA and it is mainly found in viruses like most of plant viruses, animal viruses and bacteriophages. RNA virus is a virus that has ribonucleic acid as its genetic material.

Complete answer:
Primarily, we should know what RNA is. RNA(Ribonucleic acid) is a nucleic acid which is made up of the polymeric chain of nucleotides. It is found in the nucleus as well as cytoplasm. The nucleic acid of the RNA is ribose.

There are mainly two types of RNA- Genetic RNA and Non-Genetic RNA.

As the name indicates genetic RNA acts as genetic material in viruses. It is found in most of the plant viruses, also found in some animal viruses and bacteriophages. Genetic RNA is found in absence of DNA. It can be seen single stranded or double stranded. The main function is regulation of genetic RNA.

Non-Genetic RNA is further of three types- mRNA(messenger RNA), rRNA(ribosomal RNA) and tRNA(transfer RNA). Non- Genetic RNA does not act as genetic material and this RNA is formed from DNA. It is always single-stranded. It helps in protein synthesis or we can say it helps to convert the information stored in DNA into the proteins. In some viruses, it carries genetic information too. Non-genetic RNA is present in mitochondria and the mRNA helps in gene regulation in lac-operon. Hence, it is clear that the genetic RNA refers to the genetic material of RNA viruses.

Hence, The correct answer is option (A). Genetic material of RNA viruses

Note: Genetic RNA and Non-Genetic RNA both perform different functions. Genetic RNA doesn't perform functions like carrying the information from DNA because they are found in absence of DNA but the non-genetic RNA is found in association with DNA therefore it performs functions like mRNA act as messenger, rRNA forms ribosome by associating with the sets of proteins and tRNA helps mRNA to decode the sequence into protein.