Dideoxynucleotides
A) are useful in nucleic acid sequencing AND have two additional hydroxyl groups at the 2' and 3' carbons.
B) are useful in nucleic acid sequencing AND act as chain terminators.
C) act as chain initiators AND have two additional hydroxyl groups at the 2' and 3' carbons.
D) act as chain initiators AND are useful in nucleic acid sequencing.
E) are useful in generating proteins AND act as chain terminators.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Dideoxynucleotides are nucleotide analogs that lack a hydroxyl group at the 3' carbon of the sugar moiety. This lack of a 3' hydroxyl group prevents the formation of a phosphodiester bond between the dideoxynucleotide and the next nucleotide in the growing DNA chain, effectively terminating chain elongation. This property makes dideoxynucleotides useful as chain terminators in DNA sequencing methods such as the Sanger method. The two additional hydroxyl groups at the 2' and 3' carbons are present in normal nucleotides, not dideoxynucleotides.