Nucleotides are the monomers of nucleic acids. They are made up of three parts: a five-carbon sugar, a nitrogenous base, and a phosphate group:
There are five different kinds of nitrogenous bases. In DNA there are adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G). In RNA there is no thymine; instead, there is uracil (U).
In the structure of DNA and RNA, the order of these different nucleotides store the genetic code.
Things will become clearer as you read about the structure of DNA and RNA, and then about the entire process of protein synthesis.
Nucleic Acids
- Nucleotides
- DNA and RNA
- Protein synthesis