what is the difference between an amino acid and a nucleotide, with respect to how they fit into DNA (or RNA)?

Question

I seem to be confusing the 2 all the time! thanks!

Answer 1

Nuclotides are the building blocks of ribonucleic acids (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), whereas aminoacids are the single units which make proteins (in a few words).

A nucleotide is composed of a phosphorylated pentose sugar that is linked via an N-glycosidic bond to a purine or pyrimidine base. In DNA, they are A, T, G and C; whereas T is substituted by U in RNA.

An aminoacid is an organic compound containing an amino group (NH2), a carboxylic acid group (COOH), and any of various side groups, especially any of the 20 compounds that have the basic formula NH2CHRCOOH, and that link together by peptide bonds to form proteins.

The connection between nucleotides and proteins, is that, once DNA is transcribed into RNA (mRNA in this case), then 3 nucleotides in sequence code for an aminoacid. Therefore the "message" presented by the mRNA (represented by the nucleotide sequence) can be de-coded into aminoacid sequences with the help of RIbosomes and tRNA (transport RNA)

A very simplistic explanation, hope it is enough

Answer 2

Nucleotides are the monomer units of any nucleic acid, either DNA or RNA. So DNA is a polymer of deoxyribonucleotides, and RNA is a polymer of ribonucleotides. Each nucleotide consists of a sugar (ribose or deoxyribose), a phosphate group (or 2 or 3), and one of the bases (A T G or C in DNA and A U G or C in RNA).

Amino acids are the monomer units of proteins. Each amino acid has an amino group and a carboxyl group and one of 20 different side chains (for the amino acids found in proteins).

DNA contains the genetic information of a cell which is passed from generation to generation. RNA is synthesized by the process of transcription which makes a strand of RNA complimentary to one of the two strands of DNA. The process of translation uses the nucleotide sequence of a messenger RNA to determine the order of amino acids in a protein. Translation requires the involvment of ribosomes and transfer RNA molecules.

HOpe this helps...

Answer 3

A nucleotide is a chain of nucleic acids which form amino acids which form DNA and RNA.