1.1: Nitrogenous bases, Nucleosides and Nucleotides
- Page ID
- 100582
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Nucleotide structure review
Recall some basic structural features of the nucleotide building blocks of DNA. A nucleotide is composed of a nitrogenous base, deoxyribose (five-carbon sugar), and at least one phosphate group. The nitrogenous bases are purines such as adenine (A) and guanine (G), or pyrimidines such as cytosine (C), thymine (T), and uracil (U).
Figure 1.
Each nucleotide is made up of a sugar (ribose for nucleotides in RNA, deoxyribose for nucleotides in DNA), a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base. The purines have a double ring structure with a six-membered ring fused to a five-membered ring. Pyrimidines are smaller with a single six-membered ring structure. The carbon atoms of the five-carbon sugar are numbered 1', 2', 3', 4', and 5' (1' is read as “one prime”).
Naming Nucleobases, Nucleosides and Nucleotides
| Nucleic Acid | Base (Nucleobase) | Nucleoside | Nucleotide (Given for a nucleoside-5'-monophosphate) |
| RNA | Adenine (A) | Adenosine | Adenosine-5'-monophosphate or adenylate (AMP) |
| Cytosine (C) | Cytidine | Cytidine-5'-monophosphate or cytidylate (CMP) | |
|
Guanine (G) |
Guanosine | Guanosine-5'-monophosphate or guanylate (GMP) | |
| Uracil (U) | Uridine | Uridine-5'-monophosphate or uridylate (UMP) | |
| Nucleic Acid | Base (Nucleobase) | Nucleoside | Nucleotide (Given for a deoxynucleoside-5'-monophosphate) |
| DNA | Adenine (A) |
Deoxyadenosine |
Deoxyadenosine-5'-monophosphate or deoxyadenylate (dAMP) |
| Cytosine (C) | Deoxycytidine | Deoxycytidine-5'-monophosphate or deoxycytidylate (dCMP) | |
| Guanine (G) | Deoxyguanosine | Deoxyguanosine-5'-monophosphate or deoxyguanylate (dGMP) | |
| Thymine (T) | Deoxythymidine |
Deoxythymidine-5'-monophosphate or thymidylate (dTMP) [Because the ribonucleotide version is so rare people often call deoxythymidine just thymidine and deoxythymidylate just thymidylate] |