Final answer:
A nucleotide, the building block of nucleic acids, consists of a nitrogenous base, a phosphate group, and a five-carbon sugar (either ribose or deoxyribose). These components form the structure of DNA and RNA, critical for genetic information storage and protein synthesis.
Step-by-step explanation:
The three components of a nucleotide are a nitrogenous base, a phosphate group, and a five-carbon sugar. These building blocks form the monomers of nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA.
Nucleotides serve as the building blocks for nucleic acids, with each nucleotide consisting of a pentose sugar either deoxyribose (in DNA) or ribose (in RNA), a nitrogen-containing base (adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine or uracil), and one or more phosphate groups.
The sugar in a nucleotide is a pentose (five-carbon) sugar, which can be either ribose or deoxyribose. The nitrogenous bases are classified into purines (adenine and guanine) with a double ring structure, and pyrimidines (cytosine, thymine and uracil) with a single ring structure.
When nucleotides combine, they form strands of DNA or RNA, essential for the genetic coding in organisms and various cellular processes, including protein synthesis and energy transfer (ATP).