nucleotides

Cultural  

1. The molecules that form the basic modular structure of the double helix of the DNA molecule. A nucleotide consists of three molecules — a sugar, a phosphate group, and a molecule called a base. If the double helix is a twisted ladder, the sugar and phosphates form the sides of the ladder and pairs of bases form the rungs. There are four different bases, usually abbreviated A, C, G, and T for adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine). The order of bases in DNA determines the genetic code.

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Example Sentences

DNA and RNA consist of chains of smaller units known as nucleotides, while proteins are built from amino acids.

From Science Daily

Amino acids, which make up proteins, or nucleotides, which make up DNA and RNA, are the same way.

From Salon

Normally, uridine nucleotides would be made and consumed to help make the genetic letter codes and fuel cell metabolism.

From Science Daily

These nucleotides also contain a tag called biotin that can be used to fish the RNA out of a cell.

From Science Daily

Rather than processing the data using arithmetic operations, it is stored as a sequence of nucleotides -- the chemical building blocks of DNA.

From Science Daily