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Nucleotide

A nucleotide is an organic molecule consisting of a nitrogenous heterocyclic base (a purine or a pyrimidine), a pentose sugar (deoxyribose in DNA or ribose in RNA), and a phosphate or polyphosphate group.

A nucleoside is similar, except that it contains only the sugar and base, without a phosphate. Nucleotide names are abbreviated by first indicating whether it is a ribonucleotide (r) or deoxyribonucleotide (d), indicating the nitrogenous base included (G,A,T,C,U), the number of phosphates (Mono-, Di-, Tri-) and the presence of a phosphate (P). For example, deoxy-cytosine-triphosphate is abbreviated as dCTP.

Nucleotides are the monomers of nucleic acids and also play important roles in cellular energy transport and transformations (notably ATP and NAD+/NADH) and in enzyme regulation (see for example, protein kinase).

Nucleotide Codes:

Code Equivalence Complement
A A T
C C G
G G C
T or U T A
M A or C K
R A or G Y
W A or T W
S C or G S
Y C or T R
K G or T M
V A or C or G B
H A or C or T D
D A or G or T H
B C or G or T V
X or N A or C or G or T X

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