nucleotide
noun
- an organic compound consisting of a nitrogen-containing purine or pyrimidine base linked to a sugar (ribose or deoxyribose) and a phosphate group
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈn(j)u(ː)kliəˌtaɪd/ / /ˈn(j)u(ː)klioʊˌtaɪd/
noun
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Italic *knuks Latin nux Latin nucleuslbor. English nucleus English nucleo- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idusder. English -ide English nucleotide From nucleo- (“relating to the nucleus”) + -ide (“chemical suffix”).
- The monomer constituting DNA or RNA biopolymer molecules. Each nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous heterocyclic base (or nucleobase), which can be either a double-ringed purine or a single-ringed pyrimidine; a five-carbon pentose sugar (deoxyribose in DNA or ribose in RNA); and a phosphate group.
“With a genome of only 400 million or so nucleotide bases, the pufferfish, Fugu rubripes rubripes, has the smallest known genome of any vertebrate animal. […] But the region of DNA between the landmarks can be a million or more nucleotides long.”
“Magid draws […] a diagram depicting a restriction enzyme cutting neatly through a sequence of nucleotides.”