Desoxyriboses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A sugar molecule that forms a crucial component of DNA, distinguishing it from ribose by lacking an oxygen atom at the 2' position
2. A pentose sugar essential for the formation of deoxyribonucleic acid, which stores genetic information in living organisms
3. A five-carbon sugar integral to DNA's structure, serving as a backbone for nucleotide assembly in genetic coding

Etymology: Ribose, the parent sugar, was named by the German chemist Emil Fischer, who reportedly got the name by rearranging the letters of "arabinose," a sugar first obtained from gum arabic. The prefix "deoxy-" is a chemists' construction from "de-," meaning removal, and "oxy-," from oxygen. Deoxyribose is ribose with one oxygen atom removed, at the 2' carbon, and that small change is what distinguishes DNA's sugar from RNA's. The plural "deoxyriboses" simply refers to multiple molecules of this sugar.

Synonyms: deoxyriboses