Nucleosides
Nucleosides consist of a sugar (ribose or deoxyribose) and a heterocyclic base joined by a glycosidic bond. A nucleoside with a ribose sugar would be known as a ribonucleoside and a nucleoside with a deoxyribose sugar is known as a deoxyribonucleoside[1]. Nucleic acid can be hydrolysed to produce nucelosides. Nucleosides can be phosphorylated by kinases to produce nucleotides.
Nucleoside triphospates are nucleosides with 3 phosphate groups attached, these are used by DNA primase to synthesize RNA primers on the lagging strand during DNA replication.[2] (ATP, CTP, UTP and GTP)
The difference between a nucleoside and a nucleotide is that a nucleotide contains a phospate group.
References
- ↑ http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Nucleoside
- ↑ Alberts B., Johnson A., Lewis J., Raff M., Roberts K. and Walson J. (2007) Molecular Biology of the Cell, New York: Garland. Page 268