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What is it?
Nucleotides are the building blocks of DNA. They form the rungs of the ladder-shaped DNA molecule. Nucleotides are made up of base pairs, combined with phosphates and sugar molecules. Genetic characteristics are determined by the sequence (or order) in which nucleotides occur in the DNA molecule.
There are four kinds of nucleotides: Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Cytosine (C), and Guanine (G).
Give me an example! Do you know two siblings (brothers or sisters) who have different colors of hair or eyes? This is because of the way the sequence in which the nucleotides in their DNA molecules are bonded together. If there were not so many different ways that nucleotides can chemically bond together, we'd all look alike! |
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