Nucleotides
Nucleotides
Nucleotides (/nuːˈkliːəˌtaɪd/) are organic molecules that serve as the monomers, or subunits, of nucleic acids like DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid). The term nucleotide comes from the Latin nucleus or nuculeus, meaning kernel or little nut, and the Greek τις (tis), meaning a thing.
Structure
A nucleotide is composed of three distinctive chemical sub-units: a five-carbon sugar molecule, a nitrogenous base and one or more phosphate groups. The sugar component can be either ribose (in RNA) or deoxyribose (in DNA).
Function
Nucleotides play a central role in metabolism at a fundamental, cellular level. They carry packets of chemical energy—in the form of the nucleoside triphosphates ATP, GTP, CTP and UTP—throughout the cell to the many cellular functions that demand energy, which include: synthesizing proteins, synthesizing membranes, moving the cell, etc.
Types of Nucleotides
There are two types of nucleotides: Purine nucleotides and Pyrimidine nucleotides. Purine nucleotides are adenine and guanine, while pyrimidine nucleotides are cytosine, thymine (in DNA), and uracil (in RNA).
Related Terms
- Nucleoside: A nucleoside consists of a nitrogenous base covalently attached to a sugar (ribose or deoxyribose) but without the phosphate group.
- Nucleic acid: Nucleic acids are biopolymers, or large biomolecules, essential for all known forms of life.
- DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid is a molecule composed of two chains that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of all known organisms and many viruses.
- RNA: Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Nucleotides
- Wikipedia's article - Nucleotides
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