Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store

Deoxyribose

share icon
share icon

What is Deoxyribose?

Deoxyribose is a sugar, but not the kind we think about when we want to sweeten our coffee. A monosaccharide is deoxyribose. Monosaccharides serve as the foundation for more complex sugars. The words 'mono' and 'saccharide' mean 'one' and 'sugar,' respectively.

 

2 Deoxyribose - Deoxyribose Sugar Formula

Deoxyribose is a part of DNA and is often referred to as 2-deoxyribose. A sugar is any molecule that ends in the letter 'ose.' C5H10O4 is the chemical formula for deoxyribose. The letters reflect the names of elements from the periodic table, and the numbers (presented in subscript) tell us how much of each of these elements make up a specific covalent bond. Deoxyribose is made up of 5 carbon atoms, 10 hydrogen atoms, and 4 oxygen atoms, according to the deoxyribose formula. Atoms are the essential chemical elements of life and can be found everywhere.

 

Monosaccharides, or basic sugars, are ribose and deoxyribose. They are aldopentoses that are phosphorylated to form deoxyribonucleotide and ribonucleotide, respectively. They play a crucial role in the creation of an organism's blueprint, which is passed down over generations.

 

Nucleotides are the building blocks of nucleic acids, and they aid in the transmission of genetic material. Ribose, which has five carbon atoms, is the pentose sugar for RNA. Deoxyribose is the pentose sugar for DNA.

 

Emil Fischer discovered ribose in the year 1891. Phoebus Levene discovered deoxyribose in 1929. Below are some structural IUPAC names, molar mass, chemical formula, and other variations between deoxyribose and ribose.

 

Deoxyribose Sugar Structure

The monosaccharide deoxyribose, or more specifically 2-deoxyribose, has the idealized formula H(C=O)(CH2)(CHOH)3H. Its name denotes that it is a deoxy sugar, meaning that it is created by removing an oxygen atom from the sugar ribose. Deoxyribose is most well-known for its use in DNA.

 

Ribose and Deoxyribose


(Image will be Updated soon)

 

(Image will be Updated soon)

 

Following are the major difference between deoxyribose and ribose -

 

Difference between Deoxyribose and Ribose

Deoxyribose

Ribose

Chemical Formula

C5H10O4

C5H10O5

IUPAC Name

2-deoxy-D-ribose

(2S,3R,4S,5R)-5-(hydroxymethyl)oxolane-2,3,4-triol

Structure

It has a hydroxyl (OH) group at position 2

It has a hydrogen (H) atom at position 2

Molar mass

134.13 g/mol

150.13 g/mol

Also Known as

2-deoxy-D-erythro-pentose

D-Ribose

Discovery

1929 by Phoebus Levene

1891 Emil Fischer

Found in

DNA

RNA

 

What is Deoxyribose?

Deoxyribose is an aldopentose sugar with an attached aldehyde group. This aids in the differentiation of ribonucleic and deoxyribonucleic acid by enzymes found in the living body.

 

Deoxyribose products play an essential role in biology. In all life forms, DNA is the primary source of genetic material. Adenine, thiamine, guanine, and cytosine are among the DNA nucleotides.

 

What is Ribose?

Ribose is a pentose sugar with an openly attached aldehyde group at the end of the chain. Ribonucleoside is made up of ribose sugar and a nitrogenous base. A ribonucleotide is formed when this ribonucleoside is bound to a phosphate group.

 

It's a monosaccharide with one oxygen atom attached to each carbon atom. The ribose sugar can be present in living organisms' RNA. RNA is in charge of encoding and decoding genetic material.

 

Deoxyribose Structure


(Image will be Updated soon)

 

(Image will be Updated soon)

 

Deoxyribose may exist as a five- or six-membered ring or as a linear molecule on its own. Since it is a five-carbon molecule with a carbonyl group at the end, deoxyribose is referred to as an aldopentose. It appears as deoxyribofuranose, or a five-membered ring, in the image above.

 

Deoxyribose can act as the backbone of DNA by substituting a phosphate group and a nucleic acid base on this ring, as shown in the diagram below.

 

Deoxyribose Function

Deoxyribose is a five-membered ring found in DNA. Deoxyribose has lost an oxygen molecule from one of the carbons in the ring, as seen in the diagram. Although this may seem to be a minor improvement, it has a significant impact on DNA's resistance to hydrolysis. With the extra oxygen, RNA can interact with water molecules more effectively. The phosphodiester bonds that connect ribose molecules can be hydrolyzed as a result of this. The phosphodiester bonds that connect deoxyribose molecules naturally interact with waterless and break down less through hydrolysis. This allows DNA molecules to be passed down through generations with only small modifications.

 

To distinguish between the carbons in deoxyribose, the carbons are numbered with primes. The carbon that will be bound to the nitrogenous (nucleic acid) base is the 1' carbon (also known as "the one prime carbon"). The 5' carbon will be on the ring's opposite side and will not be part of the ring's structure. The phosphate group is linked to the 5' carbon. As seen in the diagram, this phosphate group will then bind to the 3' carbon of the nucleotide above it. The covalently bonded backbone of DNA is formed as a result of this. Though not seen, DNA is made up of two strands that complement each other and have deoxyribose backbones. The backbones are held together by hydrogen bonds formed by pyrimidines and purines interacting with one another. Enzymes sever these hydrogen bonds during replication to create new DNA strands that complement each side of the parent strand. Until being deoxygenated into deoxyribose bases, new ribose molecules are bound to nitrogenous bases and phosphate classes. The nucleotides can then be attached to the growing base string, forming an independent DNA molecule.


Importance of Deoxyribose

Deoxyribose forms the very backbone of DNA. It is a pentose sugar and a key building block of DNA. Students need to know about DNA before they read this chapter on the importance of Deoxyribose. DNA is vital as it contains the instructions that an organism needs to develop, survive and reproduce. All those students who wish to pursue Biology later on in life need to know about it. Getting the fundamentals right will assist them in having a grasp over the other related concepts later on.


How to Prepare for a Test on Deoxyribose

A test on Deoxyribose can be prepared for when the students learn about it properly. Once they have understood what it is and why it is important, they can refer to Deoxyribose on Vedantu to understand it better. This page has comprehensive information on the same which the students need to be aware of. They can read from here and then go for the tests.

Want to read offline? download full PDF here
Download full PDF
Is this page helpful?
like-imagedislike-image

FAQs on Deoxyribose

1. Why Deoxyribose for DNA and Ribose for RNA?

Deoxyribose is an aldopentose sugar with an attached aldehyde group. This aids in the differentiation of ribonucleic and deoxyribonucleic acid by enzymes found in the living body. Ribose is a pentose sugar with an openly attached aldehyde group at the end of the chain. Ribonucleoside is made up of ribose sugar and a nitrogenous base. A ribonucleotide is formed when this ribonucleoside is bound to a phosphate group.


DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the foundation of life on Earth; DNA serves as the genetic backbone of all recognized living organisms. DNA is so valuable to eukaryotes that it is retained in the nucleus of the cell, where it is copied but never extracted because it never leaves the protection of the nucleus. All cell activity is guided by DNA, which is delegated to RNA. RNA (ribonucleic acid) serves a variety of biological functions including gene coding, encoding, regulation, and expression. RNA transports signals from the nucleus to the cytoplasm.


Ribose sugar is a key component of both DNA and RNA's chemical structures. The ribose sugar used in DNA is deoxyribose, while RNA uses unmodified ribose sugar also known as pentose sugar in RNA.

2. Explain the difference between the Structure of Ribose and Deoxyribose?

Ribose and Deoxyribose are two types of simple sugars or monosaccharides found in living organisms. They are extremely important biologically because they aid in the formation of the organism's blueprint, which is then passed down over generations. Any shift in the blueprint in one generation of a species manifests itself in the next generation as physical or evolutionary changes. However, there are some slight but important variations between ribose and deoxyribose.

 

(Image will be Updated soon)

3. What is the major function of deoxyribose?

The major function of deoxyribose is upon the DNA in the human body. The description for which is given on  Deoxyribose. Deoxyribose is the five-carbon sugar molecule that assists in the formation of the phosphate backbone of DNA molecules. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid is a polymer composed of many nucleic acids. Each of these nucleic acids is made up of a deoxyribose molecule that is bound to both a phosphate group and either a purine or a pyrimidine..This study material on Vedantu is relevant to the topic and can be utilised by the students before a test on the topic. Everything of importance has been mentioned here and all the functions have also been explained. Going through this will strengthen those concepts that are already there in the student’s minds. 

4. How do students know about the kinds of questions that might come from deoxyribose?

Students will know about the types of questions that might come from the chapter if they read Deoxyribose on Vedantu’s online tutoring platforms. They could be asked many types of questions such as long answer types, short answer types or even multiple choice questions. This page has all the input that is needed by them to understand. Since it has covered all the topics and sub-topics, reading from here will shed light on the kind of questions that might come from Deoxyribose. This page is a great guidebook for the students to go through as it has all explanations.

5. Have biology teachers created Deoxyribose on Vedantu?

Yes, Biology teachers who are quite good at the subject have contributed to this page. Vedantu never compromises on its study material and so, employs only the most qualified teachers to write for its platform. This page has also been created keeping that in mind. The guidelines of the Board have been followed while creating this page so that nothing irrelevant is studied by the students who come across this page. This page can be read by all those who need to have a sound understanding of the topic.

6. What is the deoxyribose sugar structure?

The structure can be understood if Vedantu is referred to. Deoxyribose. The monosaccharide deoxyribose, or more specifically 2-deoxyribose, has an idealized formula H(C=O)(CH2)(CHOH)3H. Its name states that it is a deoxy sugar, meaning that it is formed by removing an oxygen atom from the sugar ribose. Deoxyribose is most popular for its use in DNA. It is most notable for its presence in DNA. Students need to understand this well so as to be able to answer questions.

7. Is ribose the same as deoxyribose?

No, both have major differences. The differences between both get clearer as one reads from Deoxyribose on Vedantu.


The difference between deoxyribose and ribose is that deoxyribose sugar is devoid of  a hydroxyl group on the second carbon in the ring. Deoxyribose is that sugar which is  found in DNA nucleotides and ribose is that sugar which is found in RNA nucleotides. The difference in the hydroxyl group allows DNA and RNA to form different structures which permits them to carry out all their functions in the cell.

Competitive Exams after 12th Science
tp-imag
bottom-arrow
tp-imag
bottom-arrow
tp-imag
bottom-arrow
tp-imag
bottom-arrow
tp-imag
bottom-arrow
tp-imag
bottom-arrow