Gene manipulation and recombinant DNA technology - Pharmaceutical Biotechnology: Concepts and Aapplications - page 41

Base
(Adenine)

(a)

(b)

Base

P Pentose

Phosphate

Pentose
(ribose)

Figure 3.2 (a) The basic structure of a nucleotide. (b) The actual chemical structure of one representative
nucleotide (adenylate, i.e. adenosine 5 -monophosphate)

Figure 3.3 Chemical structure of (a) ribose and (b) 2 -deoxyribose, the nucleotide pentoses found in RNA
and DNA respectively. The differences in chemical structure are highlighted by the dotted circles

Figure 3.4 The fi ve bases found in nucleic acids may be categorized as either pyrimidines or purines. Refer
to text for details