nucleotides

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 .

Example Sentences

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

It had previously been assumed that RNA can only copy itself by 'randomly' constructing sequences of around 200 nucleotides in length -- so-called ribozymes.

From Science Daily

The DNA carries the genetic information of all living organisms and consists of only four different building blocks, the nucleotides.

From Science Daily

DNA methylation, which involves methyl groups attaching to nucleotides in DNA, varies with age, and these epigenetic clocks use certain variations in methylation to estimate biological age.

From Science Daily