Mononucleotide

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A basic unit of nucleic acids, consisting of a phosphate group, a sugar, and a nitrogenous base
2. It serves as the building block for DNA and RNA sequences
3. One of the simplest forms of nucleic acid components, made up of a single phosphate group linked to a five-carbon sugar and a nitrogenous base

Etymology: A mononucleotide is simply a single nucleotide, the basic building block of nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA. The word is a compound built from two parts: "mono-", from Ancient Greek "μονο-" (mono-), meaning "single" or "one", and "nucleotide," itself formed from "nucleus," the Latin word for a kernel or the inner part of a nut, with the chemical suffix "-ide" added. That chain of meanings is the interesting part. Latin "nux" meant "nut," and "nucleus" was its diminutive, a little nut or kernel. Scientists later borrowed the word for the central core of a cell, and the chemical "nucleotide," a unit containing a sugar, a phosphate group and a base, was named from that root. Putting "mono-" in front of it therefore describes one of these units on its own, the single kernel of the larger molecule.

Synonyms: nucleotide, INVALID, INVALID, INVALID, INVALID