What is the monomer of nucleic acids?

A nucleotide is the monomer of nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA. Each nucleotide consists of three main components:

• A pentose sugar: This is a five-carbon sugar. In DNA, the sugar is deoxyribose, while in RNA, it is ribose. The difference lies in the presence of an -OH group on the 2' carbon in ribose, which is absent in deoxyribose.
• A nitrogenous base: This is a molecule containing nitrogen and has chemical properties of a base. There are five main nitrogenous bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), thymine (T) (found in DNA), and uracil (U) (found in RNA). A and G are purines, while C, T, and U are pyrimidines.
• One to three phosphate groups: These are attached to the 5' carbon of the pentose sugar. These phosphate groups provide the energy for the formation of phosphodiester bonds to create nucleic%20acid polymers. When a nucleotide has one phosphate group, it is called a nucleoside monophosphate (NMP); with two, a nucleoside diphosphate (NDP); and with three, a nucleoside triphosphate (NTP). NTPs like ATP are important energy carriers in cells.

Nucleotides are linked together to form nucleic acids through phosphodiester bonds, which are covalent bonds formed between the phosphate group of one nucleotide and the sugar of another. The sequence of nucleotides in a nucleic acid carries the genetic information.