Expert: Florence M Rollwagen - 5/12/2008

Question
what are the components of a nucleotide?

Answer
Nucleotides are molecules useful in cells for carrying information, providing energy and transferring information from the genome to the cell.  

Mostly, when we speak of nucleotides, we mean components of DNA and RNA.  They are composed of a nitrogenous base, a sugar and a phosphate group.  The sugar can be ribose (in RNA) or deoxyribose (in DNA).  In addition, the energy carrying molecules ATP and GTP are also nucleotides.  They stand for adenosine triphosphate and guanosine triphosphate.  They are called triphosphate because they have three phosphate groups attached.  The third phosphate carries energy for cellular reactions.

There are four nitrogenous bases in DNA: adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymidine.  In RNA, the cell doesn't use thymine, but uracil instead.

The sugars are attached to each other forming long strands with the nitrogenous base in the center, forming the rungs of a ladder.  The sugar-phosphate backbone forms the outside of the ladder.

The structure of DNA was discovered by Wilkins, Watson and Crick, and they won the Nobel Prize for their discovery.

You can see a picture here: http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/VL/GG/nucleotide2.php

I hope this answer has helped you.  Please write back if you have more questions.

FM Rollwagen, PhD