nucleotide
noun
nu·cle·o·tide
| \ ˈnü-klē-ə-ˌtīd
, ˈnyü-\
, ˈnyü-\
Definition of nucleotide
: any of several compounds that consist of a ribose or deoxyribose sugar joined to a purine or pyrimidine base and to a phosphate group and that are the basic structural units of nucleic acids (such as RNA and DNA) — compare nucleoside
Examples of nucleotide in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
That involves using statistical methods to search for connections between SNPs — single nucleotide polymorphisms, or individual differences in a single building block in the genetic code — and a particular trait. — Los Angeles Times, "No single ‘gay gene’ determines same-sex sexual behavior, DNA analysis finds," 29 Aug. 2019 When that enzyme grabs favipiravir instead of a nucleotide, the virus’s multiplication machinery gets gummed up and grinds to a halt. — Megan Molteni, WIRED, "The Meat-Allergy Tick Also Carries a Mystery Killer Virus," 8 July 2019 The new nucleotides even outperform their natural counterparts. — Quanta Magazine, "New Letters Added to the Genetic Alphabet," 10 July 2015 Viruses steal a cell’s nucleotides to make more copies of itself, using a special enzyme as their engine of self-replication. — Megan Molteni, WIRED, "The Meat-Allergy Tick Also Carries a Mystery Killer Virus," 8 July 2019 When an RNA virus replicates, the copying process generates one new error, or mutation, per 10,000 nucleotides, a mutation rate as much as 100,000 times greater than that found in human DNA. — Quanta Magazine, "Vaccines Are Pushing Pathogens to Evolve," 10 May 2018 The nucleotides that comprise DNA (A,T, C, and G) are flat molecules, and they're stacked parallel to each other along the DNA helix. — Diana Gitig, Ars Technica, "Bacteria engage in chemical warfare against viruses," 5 Dec. 2018 Another is the pentose phosphate pathway, an additional energy-producing metabolic pathway that also generates some of the nucleotides used to build genetic material. — Diana Gitig, Ars Technica, "Sugar cures cancer! (Not really, but one sugar may help chemo)," 21 Nov. 2018 These sites are called single nucleotide polymorphisms — a.k.a. — Brian Resnick, Vox, "Genetics has learned a ton — mostly about white people. That’s a problem.," 27 Oct. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'nucleotide.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for nucleotide
nucleotide
noun
nu·cle·o·tide
| \ ˈn(y)ü-klē-ə-ˌtīd
\
\
Medical Definition of nucleotide
: any of several compounds that consist of a ribose or deoxyribose sugar joined to a purine or pyrimidine base and to a phosphate group and that are the basic structural units of RNA and DNA — compare nucleoside