Biology / Unit 1 Bio 0219 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Nucleotide Structure
Captions available
The idea
A nucleotide, a nucleic acid's monomer, is built from a nitrogenous base, a five-carbon sugar, and one or more phosphate groups.
In practice
One nucleotide's phosphate group links to the sugar of the next nucleotide, building a chain with a repeating sugar-phosphate backbone.
Where people slip
The nitrogenous base varies from nucleotide to nucleotide along a chain; the sugar-phosphate backbone linking them stays the same throughout.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it · Sources for Biology