| DNA | RNA |
| 1. It is a genetic material of majority of the organisms. | It is a genetic material only of some viruses. |
| 2. It is double stranded. | It is single stranded. |
| 3. Deoxyribose sugar is present. | Ribose sugar is present. |
| 4. Nitrogen bases like Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, Thymine are present. | Nitrogen bases like Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, Uracil are present. |
| 5. Specific base pairing is observed. | Nitrogen bases do not form pair. |
| 6. Total number of purines is equal to total number of pyrimidine. Thus, purine to pyrimidine ratio is 1:1. | Amount of purine and pyrimidine may or may not be equal. |
| 7. It is present in nucleus. | It is present in nucleus and cytoplasm. |
| 8. It is responsible for determining hereditary characters and for formation of RNA. | It takes part in protein synthesis. |
