A subunit of DNA or RNA. To form a DNA or RNA molecule, thousands of nucleotides are joined in a long chain.
Each nucleotide is divided into three parts (with apologies to Caesar):
A nitrogenous base (A, G, T, or C in DNA; A, G, U, or C in RNA), A phosphate molecule, and A sugar molecule (deoxyribose in DNA and ribose in RNA). A DNA oligonucleotide is a short piece of DNA composed of relatively few (oligo-) nucleotide bases.
Common Misspellings: nucleotid