Nucleotides

Nucleotides are the basic building blocks of nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA. Each nucleotide consists of three components:

• A nitrogenous base (either adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine in DNA; adenine, uracil, cytosine, guanine in RNA)

• A five-carbon sugar (deoxyribose in DNA and ribose in RNA)

• One or more phosphate groups

Nucleotides play a critical role not just in genetic information storage and transmission, but also in cellular processes such as energy transfer (e.g., ATP) and signal transduction.