Which statement correctly describes about nucleotides' role in DNA and RNA?

Which statement correctly describes about nucleotides' role in DNA and RNA?

• A. They are the building blocks that form DNA and RNA.
• B. They are the final products of DNA replication.
• C. They are inorganic minerals.
• D. They are a type of protein.

Answer: (A)

Nucleotides are the building blocks of DNA and RNA. Each nucleotide contains a sugar, a phosphate, and a nitrogenous base, and long nucleic acid chains form when the sugars link to phosphates between successive nucleotides. This polymerization creates the familiar DNA and RNA polymers, with DNA using deoxyribose and RNA using ribose. The information carried by these molecules comes from the sequence of bases along the chain. So the essential idea is that nucleotides are the monomers that construct the nucleic acids. They aren’t the final products of replication—the replication process uses nucleotides as substrates to assemble new DNA strands, but the end result is complete DNA molecules, not free nucleotides. They aren’t inorganic minerals, nor a type of protein, so those options don’t fit the role of nucleotides in DNA and RNA.

Nucleotides are the building blocks of DNA and RNA. Each nucleotide contains a sugar, a phosphate, and a nitrogenous base, and long nucleic acid chains form when the sugars link to phosphates between successive nucleotides. This polymerization creates the familiar DNA and RNA polymers, with DNA using deoxyribose and RNA using ribose. The information carried by these molecules comes from the sequence of bases along the chain. So the essential idea is that nucleotides are the monomers that construct the nucleic acids.

They aren’t the final products of replication—the replication process uses nucleotides as substrates to assemble new DNA strands, but the end result is complete DNA molecules, not free nucleotides. They aren’t inorganic minerals, nor a type of protein, so those options don’t fit the role of nucleotides in DNA and RNA.