|
Nucleotides - Definition and Overview |
|
Nucleotide codes
| Code | Equivalence | Complement
|
| A | A | T or U
|
| C | C | G
|
| G | G | C
|
| T or U | T | A
|
| M | A or C | K
|
| R | A or G | Y
|
| W | A or T | W
|
| S | C or G | S
|
| Y | C or T | R
|
| K | G or T | M
|
| V | A or C or G | B
|
| H | A or C or T | D
|
| D | A or G or T | H
|
| B | C or G or T | V
|
| X or N | A or C or G or T | X
|
A nucleotide is an organic molecule consisting of a heterocyclic nucleobase (a purine or a pyrimidine), a pentose sugar (deoxyribose in DNA or ribose in RNA), and a phosphate or polyphosphate group. (A nucleoside is similar, except that it contains only the sugar and base, without a phosphate.)
Nucleotide names are abbreviated into standard four-letter codes. The first letter is lower case and indicates whether the nucleotide in question is a ribonucleotide (r) or deoxyribonucleotide (d). The second letter indicates the nitrogenous base included (G,A,T,C,U). The third and fourth letters indicate the number of attached phosphates (Mono-, Di-, Tri-) and the presence of a phosphate (P). For example, deoxy-cytosine-triphosphate is abbreviated as dCTP.
Nucleotides are the monomers of nucleic acids and also play important roles in cellular energy transport and transformations (notably ATP and NAD+/NADH) and in enzyme regulation (see for example, protein kinase).
See also
|
|
Example Usage of Nucleotides |
 |
AAA_Amerah: Oh man, I love how the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid is so helical! All the simple Nucleotides that construct it are super COOL! |
 |
RodrigoGour: @daniellacs ...how the Nucleotides express the information, in other words speak A-T-G-C-U language... it's a shame we're not in the future! |
 |
merrypranxter: ok it totally just clicked that "Gattaca" is made up of only G,A,T & C... DNA Nucleotides: guanine, adenine, thymine & cytosine. makes sense |
|
