Here's a breakdown:
* Sugar: All nucleotides in DNA contain deoxyribose sugar, while all nucleotides in RNA contain ribose sugar. The sugar is consistent within each molecule type.
* Phosphate group: The phosphate group is also consistent across all nucleotides.
* Nitrogenous base: This is where the variation comes in! There are five main nitrogenous bases found in nucleic acids:
* Adenine (A)
* Guanine (G)
* Cytosine (C)
* Thymine (T) - found only in DNA
* Uracil (U) - found only in RNA
The specific sequence of these nitrogenous bases along a strand of DNA or RNA determines the genetic information encoded within the molecule.
