having or showing a disposition to avoid exertion; slothful: an indolent person. 2. Pathology. causing little or no pain; inactive or relatively benign: an indolent ulcer that is not painful and is slow to heal.
DNA and RNA are composed of nucleotides that are linked to one another in a chain by chemical bonds, called ester bonds, between the sugar base of one nucleotide and the phosphate group of the adjacent nucleotide. The sugar is the 3' end, and the phosphate is the 5' end of each nucleiotide.
Each nucleotide base can hydrogen-bond with a specific partner base in a process known as complementary base pairing: Cytosine forms three hydrogen bonds with guanine, and adenine forms two hydrogen bonds with thymine. These hydrogen-bonded nitrogenous bases are often referred to as base pairs.