List of RNAs
occurs in different forms within organisms and serves many different roles. Listed here are the types of RNA, grouped by role. Abbreviations for the different types of RNA are listed and explained.
By role
| Type | Abbr. | Function | Distribution | Ref. |
| Small nuclear RNA | snRNA | Splicing and other functions | Eukaryotes and archaea | |
| Small nucleolar RNA | snoRNA | Nucleotide modification of RNAs | Eukaryotes and archaea | |
| SmY RNA | SmY | mRNA trans-splicing | Nematodes | |
| Small Cajal body-specific RNA | scaRNA | Type of snoRNA; Nucleotide modification of RNAs | ||
| Guide RNA | gRNA | mRNA nucleotide modification | Kinetoplastid mitochondria | |
| Ribonuclease P | RNase P | tRNA maturation | All organisms | |
| Ribonuclease MRP | RNase MRP | rRNA maturation, DNA replication | Eukaryotes | |
| Y RNA | RNA processing, DNA replication | Animals | ||
| Telomerase RNA Component | TERC | Telomere synthesis | Most eukaryotes | |
| Spliced Leader RNA | SL RNA | mRNA trans-splicing, RNA processing |
| Type | Abbr. | Function | Distribution | Ref. |
| Antisense RNA | aRNA, asRNA | Transcriptional attenuation / mRNA degradation / mRNA stabilisation / Translation block | All organisms | |
| Cis-natural antisense transcript | cis-NAT | Gene regulation | ||
| CRISPR RNA | crRNA | Resistance to parasites, by targeting their DNA | Bacteria and archaea | |
| Long noncoding RNA | lncRNA | Regulation of gene transcription, epigenetic regulation | Eukaryotes | |
| MicroRNA | miRNA | Gene regulation | Most eukaryotes | |
| Piwi-interacting RNA | piRNA | Transposon defense, maybe other functions | Most animals | |
| Small interfering RNA | siRNA | Gene regulation | Most eukaryotes | |
| Short hairpin RNA | shRNA | Gene regulation | Most eukaryotes | |
| Trans-acting siRNA | tasiRNA | Gene regulation | Land plants | |
| Repeat associated siRNA | rasiRNA | Type of piRNA; transposon defense | Drosophila | |
| 7SK RNA | 7SK | negatively regulating CDK9/cyclin T complex | ||
| Enhancer RNA | eRNA | Gene regulation |
| Type | Function | Distribution | Ref. |
| Retrotransposon | Self-propagating | Eukaryotes and some bacteria | |
| Viral genome | Information carrier | Double-stranded RNA viruses, positive-sense RNA viruses, negative-sense RNA viruses, many satellite viruses and reverse transcribing viruses | |
| Viroid | Self-propagating | Infected plants | |
| Satellite RNA | Self-propagating | Infected cells |
| Type | Abbr. | Function | Distribution | Ref. |
| Vault RNA | vRNA, vtRNA | Expulsion of xenobiotics | ||
| GlycoRNA | - | Unknown | - |