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.
When nucleotides are incorporated into DNA, adjacent nucleotides are linked by a phosphodiester bond: a covalent bond is formed between the 5â phosphate group of one nucleotide and the 3â-OH group of another (see below). In this manner, each strand of DNA has a âbackboneâ of phosphate-sugar-phosphate-sugar-phosphate.