Nucleoside triphosphate
Nucleoside triphosphates are monomers of RNA and DNA and are made up of a nucleoside and 3 phosphate groups. A nucleoside is a molecule containing a nitrogenous base and a sugar, either ribose or deoxyribose. The nucleoside triphosphates containing ribose are ATP, CTP, GTP, UTP and m5UTP [1]. These NTPs, excluding m5UTP, act as building blocks for transcription in producing mRNA [2]. NTPs with deoxyribose in place of ribose, also know as the dNTPs, include dATP, dCTP, dGTP, dTTP, dUTP [3].
These molecules, except for dUTP, are required for DNA replication where energy is released from hydrolysing the phosphate groups. This energy is necessary for the reaction to progress [4].- ↑ Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (2010) Nucleoside Triphosphate [Internet], Available from http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/425004#sel= [Accessed 21/10/2014].
- ↑ Alberts, B et al. (2008). Molecular Biology of the Cell. 5th ed. New York: Garland Science. 334.
- ↑ Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (2010) Nucleoside Triphosphate [Internet], Available from: http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/425004#sel= [Accessed 21/10/2014)
- ↑ Alberts, B et al. (2008). Molecular Biology of the Cell. 5th ed. New York: Garland Science. 266-267.