What is a subunit in a nucleic-acid chain that consists of a sugar, a phosphate, and a nitrogenous base called?

The subunit in a nucleic-acid chain that consists of a sugar, a phosphate, and a nitrogenous base is known as a nucleotide. Nucleotides are the building blocks of DNA and RNA, playing a crucial role in the structure and function of these nucleic acids. Each nucleotide has three components: a five-carbon sugar (deoxyribose in DNA and ribose in RNA), a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base that can be adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine, or uracil in RNA.

Understanding the structure of nucleotides is essential because they are linked together through covalent bonds between the phosphate of one nucleotide and the sugar of another, forming the backbone of the nucleic acid chain. This connection allows the sequence of nitrogenous bases to be read and interpreted during processes such as DNA replication and RNA transcription, which are fundamental to biological functions and genetic information transfer.

In contrast, a nucleosome refers to a structural unit of chromatin in eukaryotic cells and does not describe the subunit of nucleic acids. A base pair specifically refers to the pairing of nitrogenous bases from two complementary nucleotides across two strands of DNA or RNA. RNA