Nucleotides

There are five different nitrogenous bases that occur in

DNA. These are – adenine(A), cytosine(C), guanine(G),
thymine(T) and uracil. Uracil is only found in RNA, and
thymine can only be found in DNA, one replaces the other.
Adenine will only form hydrogen bonds with itself and
thymine. Guanine will only bond with cytosine.
There are two types of nitrogen containing nucleotides:
Purines: these are made up of a double ring structure consisting
of a six and five sided ring, including adenine and guanine.
Pyrimidines: are six sided ring structures including thymine,
cytosine and uracil.
A pyrimidine base will only bond with a purine base.
 Nucleotides are the basic building blocks of
macromolecules, such as Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA), and
Ribonucleic Acid (RNA). Nucleotides are built up by a
condensation reaction between the three components, (a pentose
sugar, a base and a phosphate).
The pentose sugar is either ribose, found in RNA, or
deoxyribose, found in DNA. Ribose contains one more oxygen
atom than deoxyribose.
 Two nucleotides join to form a dinucleotide. This is the
result of a further condensation reaction between one pentose
sugar and the phosphate group attached to another pentose
sugar. This process can then be repeated many times to form a
polynucleotide molecule, which could contain millions of
individual nucleotides.
RNA molecules are made up of just one polynucleotide
chain, whereas DNA exists as two chains, running in opposite
directions and twisted around each other in the form of a double
helix.
 Polynucleotides
Polynucleotides are polymers that are made from
nucleotides. These nucleotides are joined to each other by
condensation. Therefore, every time two nucleotides are joined, a
molecule of water is lost. These nucleotides may be joined in any
order.

Phosphate Group
Base

Water Molecules
which are lost.
Pentose Sugar
End of Show

By Vikki Savage,
Kerry Acheson and
Tara Daze