BRAINCAKEStructure of DNA Nucleotides
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a polymer made of monomers called nucleotides. Each nucleotide has three parts:
• a phosphate group
• the sugar 2-deoxyribose, a pentose (five-carbon) sugar with a five-membered ring containing an oxygen atom
• one of four nitrogen-containing bases: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) or thymine (T)
The structures of these parts are given in the AQA data booklet, so you do not need to memorise them, but you should be able to recognise them and show how they join.
In a nucleotide, the phosphate is bonded to the CH2 carbon (carbon 5) of 2-deoxyribose, and the base is bonded through one of its nitrogen atoms to carbon 1 of the sugar.
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