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.
How are nucleotides held together vs how DNA strands in a DNA molecule are held together? The nucleotides are linked together covalently by phosphodiester bonds through the 3'-OH group of one sugar and the 5'-PO3 of the next, into polynucleotide chains. A DNA molecule is composed of two of these polynucleotide chains (DNA strands) which are held together by hydrogen bonds between the paired bases. DNA is wound into a _______ _______.