deoksiribozada
Deoxyribose is a sugar molecule that is a component of DNA. It is a deoxy sugar, meaning it is a modified form of ribose where a hydroxyl group at the 2' carbon position is replaced by a hydrogen atom. This seemingly small difference is crucial for the stability and function of DNA. Deoxyribose has the chemical formula C5H10O4. In the DNA double helix, deoxyribose sugars are linked together by phosphodiester bonds to form the sugar-phosphate backbone of each strand. The nitrogenous bases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine) are attached to the 1' carbon of the deoxyribose sugar. The absence of the 2'-hydroxyl group in deoxyribose makes DNA less reactive than RNA, which contains ribose. This increased stability is essential for DNA to serve as the long-term storage molecule for genetic information. Deoxyribose is found in all living organisms and viruses that use DNA as their genetic material.