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.
As the new nucleotides line up opposite each parent strand by hydrogen bonding, enzymes called DNA polymerases join the nucleotides by way of phosphodiester bonds. Actually, the nucleotides lining up by complementary base pairing are deoxynucleoside triphosphates, composed of a nitrogenous base, deoxyribose, and three phosphates. As the phosphodiester bond forms between the 5' phosphate group of the new nucleotide and the 3' OH of the last nucleotide in the DNA strand, two of the phosphates are removed providing energy for bonding.