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In chemistry, a pentose is a monosaccharide (simple sugar) with five carbon atoms. [1] The chemical formula of many pentoses is C 5 H 10 O 5, and their molecular weight is 150.13 g/mol. [2] Pentoses are very important in biochemistry. Ribose is a constituent of RNA, and the related molecule, deoxyribose, is a constituent of DNA.
L-Ribose Fischer Projection. Ribose is a simple sugar and carbohydrate with molecular formula C 5 H 10 O 5 and the linear-form composition H−(C=O)−(CHOH) 4 −H. The naturally occurring form, d-ribose, is a component of the ribonucleotides from which RNA is built, and so this compound is necessary for coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes.
Both types of pentoses in DNA and RNA are in their β-furanose (closed five-membered ring) form and they define the identity of a nucleic acid. DNA is defined by containing 2'-deoxy-ribose nucleic acid while RNA is defined by containing ribose nucleic acid. [1] In some occasions, DNA and RNA may contain some minor bases.
The basic component of biological nucleic acids is the nucleotide, each of which contains a pentose sugar (ribose or deoxyribose), a phosphate group, and a nucleobase. [16] Nucleic acids are also generated within the laboratory, through the use of enzymes [17] (DNA and RNA polymerases) and by solid-phase chemical synthesis.
Monosaccharides can be classified by the number x of carbon atoms they contain: triose (3), tetrose (4), pentose (5), hexose (6), heptose (7), and so on. Glucose, used as an energy source and for the synthesis of starch, glycogen and cellulose, is a hexose. Ribose and deoxyribose (in RNA and DNA, respectively) are pentose
Nucleosides are glycosylamines that can be thought of as nucleotides without a phosphate group.A nucleoside consists simply of a nucleobase (also termed a nitrogenous base) and a five-carbon sugar (ribose or 2'-deoxyribose) whereas a nucleotide is composed of a nucleobase, a five-carbon sugar, and one or more phosphate groups.
The pentose phosphate pathway. The pentose phosphate pathway (also called the phosphogluconate pathway and the hexose monophosphate shunt or HMP shunt) is a metabolic pathway parallel to glycolysis. [1] It generates NADPH and pentoses (five-carbon sugars) as well as ribose 5-phosphate, a precursor for the synthesis of nucleotides. [1]
While the sugar-phosphate "backbone" of DNA contains deoxyribose, RNA contains ribose instead. [6] Ribose has a hydroxyl group attached to the pentose ring in the 2' position, whereas deoxyribose does not. The hydroxyl groups in the ribose backbone make RNA more chemically labile than DNA by lowering the activation energy of hydrolysis.