An organic molecule consisting of the nitrogenous heterocyclic
base (either a
purine or a
pyrimidine) the
pentose sugar (deoxyribose
? in the case of
DNA, ribose
? in the case of
RNA), and the
phosphate group. If just the sugar and base are present, but no phosphate, that is called a nucleoside
?. Nucleotides are the
monomers of
nucleic acids and also play an important role in
cellular energy transformations (notably
ATP).
![[Home]](wikipedia.png)