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.
A polynucleotide is a nucleic acid molecule consisting of a long chain of nucleotides. Nucleotides in a polynucleotide molecule are held together by a bond between the phosphate group of one nucleotide and the sugar of a second nucleotide, which is called a phosphodiester bond.
Within a strand - via phosphates which link carbon 3 of deoxyribose on one nucleotide with carbon 5 on the deoxyribose of the next nucleotide producing a sugar- phosphate backbone to the chain. Across strands - via base pairing - H bonds between A & T; G & C. Bonds Between Nucleotides. The nucleotide backbone is held together with covalent bonds called phosphodiester bonds. The bond is comprised of C-O-P-O-C. The bond across the strand is comprised of hydrogen bonds. For A-T links, there are 2 H bonds and for G-C links, there are 3 H bonds.