NUCLEOTIDES
The nucleotides that are the building blocks of nucleic acids are formed by adding a phosphate group to a nucleoside.
Nucleotides containing ribose are known as ribonucleotides, and those containing deoxyribose are known as deoxyribonucleotides.
To summarize the structural differences between DNA and RNA:
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)
- Sugar is deoxyribose
- DNA is a polymer of deoxyribonucleotides
- Bases are adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine
RNA (ribonucleic acid)
- Sugar is ribose
- RNA is a polymer of ribonucleotides.
- Bases are adenine, guanine, cytosine and uracil (instead of thymine)
