A transfer RNA molecule is used in translation and consists of a single RNA strand that is only about 80 nucleotides long, containing an anticodon on the other end; the anticodon base-pairs with a complementary codon on mRNA and (abbreviated tRNA and formerly referred to as sRNA, for soluble RNA) is an adaptor molecule composed of RNA, typically 76 to 90 nucleotides in length, that serves as the physical link between the mRNA and the amino acid sequence of proteins.