nucleotide

[noo-klee-uh-tahyd, nyoo-] /ˈnu kli əˌtaɪd, ˈnyu-/

noun, Biochemistry

any of a group of molecules that, when linked together, form the building blocks of DNA or RNA: composed of a phosphate group, the bases adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine, and a pentose sugar, in RNA the thymine base being replaced by uracil.

Origin

1905-10; alteration of nucleoside

Related forms

internucleotide, adjective

Examples from the web for nucleotides

The chains form the terms double helix and nucleotides.
The end result is a brain that is much, much more than simply the sum of the nucleotides that encode a few thousand proteins.
If a gene mutates, one or more of the nucleotides in its sequence changes.
Each gene consists of a long strand of molecules, called nucleotides.
Each amino acid is genetically encoded by a string of three nucleotides, known as a codon.
The newer drugs, called nucleosides and nucleotides, are taken orally.
The other drugs are called nucleotides or nucleosides, and there are a variety of factors that go into choosing the best one.
But rarely is the sequence of the letters, or nucleotides, exactly the same within each pair.
The mono-phosphates nucleotides are all identical except for their nitrogenous bases.
The basic building blocks, nucleotides, would have been floating around.

British Dictionary definitions for nucleotides

nucleotide

/ˈnjuːklɪəˌtaɪd/

noun

(biochem) a compound consisting of a nucleoside linked to phosphoric acid. Nucleic acids are made up of long chains (polynucleotides) of such compounds

Word Origin

C20: from nucleo- + t (added for ease of pronunciation) + -ide

Word Origin and History for nucleotides

nucleotide

1908, from German nucleotid (1908), from nucleo-, modern comb. form of Latin nucleus (see nucleus) + -ide, with -t- for the sake of euphony.

nucleotides in Medicine

nucleotide nu·cle·o·tide (nōō'klē-ə-tīd', nyōō'-)
n.
Any of various compounds consisting of a nucleoside combined with a phosphate group and forming the basic constituent of DNA and RNA.

nucleotides in Science

nucleotide

(n'klē-ə-tīd')
Any of a group of organic compounds composed of a nucleoside linked to a phosphate group. Nucleotides are the basic building blocks of nucleic acids.

nucleotides in Culture

nucleotides [(nooh-klee-uh-teyedz)]

The molecules that form the basic modular structure of the double helix of the DNA molecule. A nucleotide consists of three molecules — a sugar, a phosphate group, and a molecule called a base. If the double helix is a twisted ladder, the sugar and phosphates form the sides of the ladder and pairs of bases form the rungs. There are four different bases, usually abbreviated A, C, G, and T for adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine). The order of bases in DNA determines the genetic code.