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Question

Question: What is the five-carbon sugar found in DNA?...

What is the five-carbon sugar found in DNA?

Explanation

Solution

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a molecule made up of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix and carry genetic instructions for all known organisms and viruses' development, functioning, growth, and reproduction.

Complete answer:
Nucleic acids include DNA and ribonucleic acid (RNA). Nucleic acids are one of the four major types of macromolecules that are required for all known forms of life, alongside proteins, lipids, and complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides).
Because they are made up of smaller monomeric units called nucleotides, the two DNA strands are known as polynucleotides. Each nucleotide is made up of a sugar called deoxyribose, a phosphate group, and one of four nitrogen-containing nucleobases (cytosine [C], guanine [G], adenine [A], or thymine [T]).
Covalent bonds (known as the phospho-diester linkage) between the sugar of one nucleotide and the phosphate of the next nucleotide link the nucleotides together in a chain, resulting in an alternating sugar-phosphate backbone. The nitrogenous bases of the two polynucleotide strands are linked together with hydrogen bonds according to base-pairing rules (A with T and C with G).
Deoxyribose is the pentose sugar in DNA, while ribose is the pentose sugar in RNA. The presence of a hydroxyl group on the second carbon of ribose and hydrogen on the second carbon of deoxyribose distinguishes the sugars.
Deoxyribose is a five-carbon sugar found in DNA. It is the nucleotide's central molecule.

Thus, Deoxyribose is the five-carbon sugar found in DNA.

Note:
Deoxyribose is made up of 5 carbon atoms that are arranged in a pentagonal shape. Because it only has four oxygen atoms, deoxyribose is considered a modified sugar when compared to other pentose sugars.