What components make up a nucleotide?

• A. A phosphate group, a sugar, and a nitrogenous base
• B. A sugar, a lipid, and a nitrogenous base
• C. A phosphate group, a sugar, and an amino acid
• D. A phosphate group, a lipid, and a nitrogenous base

Answer: (A)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand that nucleotides are the building blocks of nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA.
2. Recognize that a nucleotide consists of three main components: a phosphate group, a sugar, and a nitrogenous base.
3. Identify the sugar component in nucleotides: in DNA, it is deoxyribose, and in RNA, it is ribose.
4. Learn that the nitrogenous base can be one of the following: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), thymine (T) in DNA, or uracil (U) in RNA.
5. Note that the phosphate group is linked to the sugar, which in turn is linked to the nitrogenous base, forming the nucleotide structure.