Stands for small
nuclear RNA. The
transcription of
DNA inside the
nucleus creates
mRNA which goes outside the nucleus to the
ribosomes to create the
proteins it codes for. But
genes on DNA are quite messy, not strung linearly out like beads, so the first draft or
primary transcript of the DNA
strand does not
encode the gene accurately.
snRNA molecules are RNA helpers that edit the primary transcript, removing introns and splicing the exons. Several forms of snRNA and proteins combine into a spliceosome (sic, it's a new one on me too) to do this. The corrected mRNA is then ready to leave the nucleus for the cytoplasm.