Naming Nucleosides and Nucleotides: Study with Video Lessons, Practice Problems & Examples

Nucleosides consist of a nitrogenous base and a sugar, with pyrimidines ending in "idine" and purines in "osine." For RNA, uracil becomes urodine, while for DNA, adenine becomes deoxyadenosine. Nucleotides are formed by adding a 5' monophosphate to nucleosides. The naming conventions for nucleotides include the prefix "deoxy" for DNA and the suffix "monophosphate." Understanding these conventions is crucial for identifying nucleosides and nucleotides, which are fundamental to nucleic acid structure and function.

Naming Nucleosides and Nucleotides Concept 1

Now when it comes to naming nucleosides, we're going to say it's the name of the Nitrogenous base with a suffix modifier. And remember, when it comes to our Nitrogenous bases, we put them in two categories. Our pyrimidines, which are our single-ringed molecules, and then our purines, which are our double-ringed molecules. When it comes to pyrimidines, the ending changes to "idine," and for purines, when it involves purines, it's "osine." If we take a look here, we have an RNA nucleoside being created. Remember, RNA uses the nitrogenous base uracil. So here we have our ribosugar, we have our uracil. When they connect together through a condensation reaction, we have the loss of water. This helps to create this glycosidic bond right here between the Nitrogen and the anomeric carbon. Here we would change the ending of the nitrogenous base, so now it's no longer uracil, it's uridine. So we have replaced the "acyl" or "uracil" part of this with "idine." Over here, we have the DNA nucleoside. So remember, DNA uses 2-deoxyribose sugar instead of ribosugar like RNA. Here we have Adenine. Again, we're going to have the creation of our glycosidic bond right here between the nitrogen and the anomeric carbon. Here, what we need to note is in addition to the suffix modifier, we have to use the prefix "deoxy" to designate that this carbon number 2 doesn't have an OH group, it has just an H. So here the name would be "deoxy" and because it is a purine ring, the ending is "osine." So it becomes adenosine. So here, I kept this part here, and the "yne" portion became "osine." So two OHs, so it becomes deoxyadenosine as the name of this particular nucleoside. So just remember these naming conventions when it comes to our different types of nucleosides.

Naming Nucleosides and Nucleotides Concept 2

Now remember that a nucleoside is just a precursor to a nucleotide. We learned that when it comes to nucleosides, the pyrimidine, we change the ending to "idine", and with the purine, we change the ending to "oside". Here, we're now looking at nucleotides. With nucleotides, we would just add 5' monophosphate to the end of the nucleoside name. So just remember, if we were looking at just the nucleoside portion, it would have been Uridine, but because we're adding the phosphate group to make a nucleotide, we add 5'-monophosphate. The "5'" is because the phosphate is connecting to carbon 5'. Over here, we had deoxyadenosine because it was a deoxyribose sugar with our adenine nitrogenous base. That gave us deoxyadenosine as the name but because we're adding this phosphate group to our 5' carbon, we add 5'-monophosphate to the end of the name. So just remember, to be able to name these nucleotides, it's important to remember the naming conventions and rules for naming the given nucleoside. Once you know the name of the nucleoside, just add 5'-monophosphate to the end.

Naming Nucleosides and Nucleotides Concept 3

Here, we're gonna take a look at our naming summary. So we have our RNA and our DNA. Remember, the difference in bases is that for RNA, we use uracil, and for DNA, we use thymine. Now here with the nucleoside, remember, when it comes to a pyrimidine, we change the ending to iodine. And when it's a purine involved as a nitrogenous base, the ending changes to osine. So if we take a look here, we have cytosine, uracil, adenine, and guanine, and then their nucleoside names. For the pyrimidines, we change them to iodine, so cytidine, uridine, and then for the purines, we change them to osine, so adenosine, guanosine.

With the nucleotide, all we do is we add 5′ monophosphate to the end of the name. So it would be each of these with 5′ monophosphate to the end of the name. Remember, each one of these nitrogenous bases has a one-letter code for themselves. So cytosine is C, uracil is U, adenine is A, guanine is G. But here we're talking about the monophosphate version of them, so we'd have to add MP at the end for monophosphate. So these would be their abbreviations. With DNA, we have here cytosine, thymine, adenine, and guanine. Remember with DNA, we have to use the prefix of deoxy as well. So that's the difference here.

We have deoxy, but then the rest of the name is the same. Here we have thymine and because thymine is a pyrimidine, it uses the ending iodine. Again, we have deoxy and deoxy. Just like RNA, once we introduce the phosphate group to the 5′ carbon, we add 5′ monophosphate to the end of the name. Here, the difference now, in addition to these small changes like deoxy, we'd have to add a "d", lowercase d, to the front of the name to represent the deoxy component involved. Then we would include the one-letter abbreviation for each of these nitrogenous bases. So cytosine is C, thymine is T, adenine is A, guanine is G. And we're talking about the monophosphate version of them, the nucleotide version. So we'd write MP at the end. So these will represent the abbreviations of each one of these nucleotides.

So just remember the naming convention that you learned when it comes to nucleosides. And then when it comes to nucleotides, you add 5′ monophosphate to the end of the name. Remember the one-letter code for each of these nitrogenous bases. We add MP to the end of it to represent the monophosphate. If deoxyribonucleic acid is being used in the form of DNA, we add lowercase d to the front of the name. Right? So just remember these naming conventions and these naming summaries.

Naming Nucleosides and Nucleotides Example 1

Here it says, name the following nucleoside. Alright. So if we take a look at this image, we would see that in carbon number 2, there's the absence of an OH group. Just an H here. So this means that we're dealing with DNA. With DNA, we have the prefix of deoxy. Next, they tell me so we're going to say, this is our prefix deoxy. Next, we're going to say we're dealing with a 1-ring nitrogenous base. Right? So that means that we're dealing with a pyrimidine. And if we're dealing with a pyrimidine, that means the suffix, the ending, would have to be idine. And now, what we need to do is we need to figure out what is our nitrogenous base. If we take a look here, this looks like the beginnings or the base form of uracil, except we've added a methyl group here. Methyl group. Methyl group. So if we remember our different memory tools, meth, TH, Y means that we're dealing with thymine. So the base here is thymine. So putting it all together, deoxy would be the beginning of the name. Remember, the base is thymine, but we're going to change the ending to idine. So, the base would be thym and we get rid of the INE part and we replace it with idine. So Deoxythymidine will be the name of the given nucleoside presented within this example question.

Provide a name for the following nucleotide.

• A. uridine 5'-monophosphate
• B. cytidine 5’-monophosphate
• C. urisine 3'-monophosphate
• D. cytosine 5’-monophosphate

Draw a nucleotide structure for GMP.

Here it says we need to draw a nucleotide structure for GMP. Alright. So first of all, it says GMP. It does not say dGMP. If it had said d, that means we would be dealing with a deoxyribose sugar. Because d is not there, we are dealing with a simple ribose sugar. So, we draw Ribose Sugar. Carbon number 3 and 2, each have an OH group. GMP (Guanosine Monophosphate) means that carbon number 5, specifically carbon 5', has a phosphate group connected to it. Let's just add that. So here goes our phosphate group. And then G here is guanine, so we just have to draw what that looks like. Guanine represents a purine so it's 2 fused rings. On the anomeric carbon, we're connected to the nitrogen, which is part of guanine. So here we're going to draw it out, double bond here. We have a double bond here. We have our carbonyl connected to our NH, connected to another nitrogen. Well, actually, no. Not a carbonyl, an NH2 group connected to a nitrogen, closing in to make that 6-membered ring, and we have our double bond here. So this would be the structure of our GMP. We're dealing with Guanine 5' Monophosphate. We're dealing with the guanine version. Because this is a purine, it will be a guanosine 5' monophosphate. Hence, GMP for the 5' monophosphate part, it is a purine ring, so the ending of the nitrogenous base changes to 'oside'. Right. So this would be its formal name, its abbreviation, and its structure. So keep in mind each of these conventions that we learned. If you don't remember how to draw out the nitrogenous base, make sure you go back to our topic on nitrogenous bases where we talk about different memory tools and tricks to help you remember the structures of these different types of nitrogenous bases.

Draw a structure for deoxyadenosine 5’-monophosphate.

Hey, everyone. Here it says, draw a structure for deoxyadenosine 5' monophosphate. Alright. So here, 5' monophosphates. So, the 5' carbon is CH2, and it's monophosphate, so there's only 1 phosphate group attached to it. Alright, we know that this is going to be connected to our ring. We know this position here has an OH group. It says deoxy, so this carbon here will not have an OH group itself. So here, those are just 2 hydrogens in that spot, and then it's an adenosine. So we just have to draw the nitrogenous base here. So here we have our 2 rings that represent our nitrogenous base. We have our nitrogen here. We have our double bond here connected to a nitrogen. So we have a 5-membered ring here, connected to our 6-membered ring here with our nitrogens embedded within it. And then at the top of here, we have our NH2 group. Right? So this will represent the structure. And then one more, there's a π bond right here to finish it off. So now this represents our structure for Deoxyadenosine 5' Monophosphate. So, remember, look at the components of the name and just draw them individually, that you get each component to give us the overall image of our molecule.

Here’s what students ask on this topic:

What is the difference between a nucleoside and a nucleotide?

A nucleoside consists of a nitrogenous base (either a pyrimidine or a purine) attached to a sugar molecule (ribose in RNA or deoxyribose in DNA). In contrast, a nucleotide is a nucleoside with one or more phosphate groups attached to the 5' carbon of the sugar. The addition of the phosphate group(s) is what differentiates a nucleotide from a nucleoside. For example, adenosine is a nucleoside, while adenosine monophosphate (AMP) is a nucleotide.

How do you name nucleosides and nucleotides in RNA and DNA?

Nucleosides are named based on their nitrogenous base and sugar. For pyrimidines (cytosine, uracil, thymine), the suffix changes to 'idine' (e.g., cytidine, uridine). For purines (adenine, guanine), the suffix changes to 'osine' (e.g., adenosine, guanosine). In DNA, the prefix 'deoxy' is added to indicate the sugar is deoxyribose (e.g., deoxyadenosine). Nucleotides are named by adding '5' monophosphate' to the nucleoside name (e.g., adenosine 5'-monophosphate, deoxyadenosine 5'-monophosphate).

What are the naming conventions for nucleosides and nucleotides in DNA?

In DNA, nucleosides are named by adding the prefix 'deoxy' to the nucleoside name to indicate the sugar is deoxyribose. For pyrimidines, the suffix changes to 'idine' (e.g., deoxycytidine, deoxythymidine). For purines, the suffix changes to 'osine' (e.g., deoxyadenosine, deoxyguanosine). Nucleotides are named by adding '5' monophosphate' to the nucleoside name (e.g., deoxyadenosine 5'-monophosphate). Additionally, a lowercase 'd' is often added to the abbreviation to indicate deoxyribonucleic acid (e.g., dAMP for deoxyadenosine monophosphate).

How do you convert a nucleoside to a nucleotide?

To convert a nucleoside to a nucleotide, a phosphate group is added to the 5' carbon of the sugar in the nucleoside. This process forms a nucleotide. For example, if you start with the nucleoside adenosine, adding a phosphate group to the 5' carbon of the ribose sugar will create adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP). The same principle applies to deoxynucleosides in DNA, where the addition of a phosphate group to deoxyadenosine forms deoxyadenosine 5'-monophosphate (dAMP).

What are the one-letter codes for the nitrogenous bases in nucleotides?

The one-letter codes for the nitrogenous bases in nucleotides are as follows: Cytosine (C), Uracil (U), Adenine (A), and Guanine (G) for RNA. For DNA, the bases are Cytosine (C), Thymine (T), Adenine (A), and Guanine (G). When referring to the monophosphate versions of these nucleotides, the abbreviation 'MP' is added to the one-letter code (e.g., CMP for cytidine monophosphate, dAMP for deoxyadenosine monophosphate).