What is the primary purpose of RNA splicing? To remove untranslated regions (UTRs) from the 5' and 3' ends of the pre-mRNA. To add capping sequences to the 5' and 3' ends of the mRNA to protect against exonucleases. To cleave the operon transcripts into multiple functional gene products. To assemble the protein-coding sequences of the gene into a single continuous reading frame. To shorten mRNAs so that they can be transported to the cytoplasm for translation. SubmitRequest Answer Provide Feedback Next

To assemble the protein-coding sequences of the gene into a single continuous reading frame.

Explanation:

RNA processing, called splicing, occurs in the nucleus and consists of removing the introns and exon joining immediately after RNA transcription, since the RNA molecule must be cleaved at exact locations and the exons must be joined exactly as well. The main purpose of this is to gather the gene protein coding sequences into a single continuous reading frame.

During splicing, introns taken from pre-RNA are "destroyed" within the nucleus generating free nucleotides that are recycled. The intron designation derives from the fact that, although they are transcribed (make up the primary transcript), they do not leave the nucleus, as they are "destroyed," as we saw above, in this cell compartment.