Final answer:
A nucleotide is composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus (CHONP), specifically including a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar, and a phosphate group.
Step-by-step explanation:
The elements that make up a nucleotide are carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P). Therefore, the correct answer is C. CHONP.
Nucleotides, the building blocks of DNA and RNA, are composed of three main components:
- A nitrogenous base, which can be a purine (adenine and guanine) or a pyrimidine (cytosine and thymine)
- A pentose sugar, which is a five-carbon sugar (deoxyribose in DNA and ribose in RNA)
- A phosphate group
Each nucleotide in a polynucleotide chain of DNA or RNA is made up of these three components, allowing for the formation of complex structures of genetic material.