Question

A purine or pyrimidine that is attached to a sugar, either ribose or deoxyribose, which is attached to one or more phosphate groups is called a _______.

1) nucleotide
2) nucleoside
3) nitrogenous base
4) nucleic acid

Answer 1

A nucleotide is a purine or pyrimidine base attached to a sugar, either ribose or deoxyribose, which is in turn attached to one or more phosphate groups. Nucleotides can be assembled into nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) or ATP.

Step-by-step explanation:

A nucleotide is a purine or pyrimidine base attached to a sugar, either ribose or deoxyribose, which is in turn attached to one or more phosphate groups.

For example, in DNA, a nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous base (adenine, cytosine, guanine, or thymine), a deoxyribose sugar, and a phosphate group. In RNA, a nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous base (adenine, cytosine, guanine, or uracil), a ribose sugar, and a phosphate group.

Nucleotides can be assembled into nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) or the energy compound adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Therefore, the correct answer is nucleotide.