Question

Hey all,
We know that in DNA bases are bonded with deoxyribose sugar while in RNA it is ribose. Why cant both DNA and RNA have same sugar?

Answer 1

Deoxyribose is a sugar derivated from ribose by losing an oxygen atom. DNA has a heavier molecular weight, DNA has timine and RNA has uracil. DNA spatial configuration is double helicoid and RNA is a linear polynucleotide.
The main difference between the two sugar relies on the hidroxil group (-OH) of the carbon 2' in ribose, when it's substituted by an hydrogen atom in deoxyribose.

Answer 2

DNA has deoxy ribose sugar instead of ribose.
Deoxy ribose sugar can not be hydrolyzed by alkaline solution While ribose sugar can be as it has OH while deoxyribose doesn't have onlt H on its 2' end. thus preventing dna fron degradation.
That is why DNA has deoxyribose rather than ribose

Answer 3

RNA are more temporary molecules than DNA, thus it makes sense that they would have a hydroxy (OH) group which allows for easier degradation. DNA is hopefully only degraded during apoptosis, therefore the most stable structure is the best (meaning deoxyribose).