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Base pairing: Two base pairs are produced by four nucleotide monomers, nucleobases are in blue. Guanine (G) is paired with cytosine (C) via three hydrogen bonds, in red. Adenine (A) is paired with uracil (U) via two hydrogen bonds, in red. Purine nucleobases are fused-ring molecules. Pyrimidine nucleobases are simple ring molecules.
Nucleosides are glycosylamines that can be thought of as nucleotides without a phosphate group.A nucleoside consists simply of a nucleobase (also termed a nitrogenous base) and a five-carbon sugar (ribose or 2'-deoxyribose) whereas a nucleotide is composed of a nucleobase, a five-carbon sugar, and one or more phosphate groups.
This nucleotide contains the five-carbon sugar deoxyribose (at center), a nucleobase called adenine (upper right), and one phosphate group (left). The deoxyribose sugar joined only to the nitrogenous base forms a Deoxyribonucleoside called deoxyadenosine, whereas the whole structure along with the phosphate group is a nucleotide, a constituent of DNA with the name deoxyadenosine monophosphate.
All living cells contain both DNA and RNA (except some cells such as mature red blood cells), while viruses contain either DNA or RNA, but usually not both. [15] The basic component of biological nucleic acids is the nucleotide, each of which contains a pentose sugar (ribose or deoxyribose), a phosphate group, and a nucleobase. [16]
A double-ring purine is the nitrogenous base for cAMP and cGMP, while cytosine, thymine, and uracil each have a single-ring nitrogenous base . These three components are connected so that the nitrogenous base is attached to the first carbon of ribose (1’ carbon), and the phosphate group is attached to the 5’ carbon of ribose.
Each unit is joined when a covalent bond forms between its phosphate group and the pentose sugar of the next nucleotide, forming a sugar-phosphate backbone. DNA is a complementary, double stranded structure as specific base pairing (adenine and thymine, guanine and cytosine) occurs naturally when hydrogen bonds form between the nucleotide bases.
The nitrogenous bases are either purines or pyrimidines, heterocycles whose structures support the specific base-pairing interactions that allow nucleic acids to carry information. The base is always bonded to the 1'-carbon of the deoxyribose, an analog of ribose in which the hydroxyl group of the 2'-carbon is replaced with a hydrogen atom.
Conventionally, the carbon numbers in a sugar are followed by the prime symbol (‘) to distinguish them from the carbons of the nitrogenous base. The nitrogenous base is linked to the 1’ carbon through a glycosidic bond, and the phosphate groups are covalently linked to the 5’ carbon. [13] The first phosphate group linked to the sugar is ...