Question

Which of the following carbohydrates is found inside the nucleus of a cell?

• A. monosaccharides
• B. disaccharides
• C. oligosaccharides
• D. polysaccharides

Answer 1

The correct option is A monosaccharides

Monosaccharides are the simplest sugars which cannot be hydrolysed further. Monosaccharides can be divided further based on the number of carbon atoms present into trioses (3C) which include glyceraldehyde and dihydroxyacetone; tetroses (4C) which include erythrose and erythrulose; pentoses (5C) which include ribose, deoxyribose and ribulose; hexoses (6C) which include glucose, fructose, galactose, etc.

Disaccharides are made up of 2 monosaccharides which are joined together by a glycosidic bond.

Oligosaccharides are made up of a few monosaccharide units (3-10) which are joined together by glycosidic bonds.

Polysaccharides are made up of more than 10 monosaccharide units which are joined together by glycosidic bonds.

Inside the nucleus of a cell, there is genetic material in the form of DNA or RNA (depending on the organism). DNA and RNA are nucleic acids which are made up of nucleotides. And one of the components of nucleic acids is a pentose sugar. Pentoses are monosaccharides with 5 carbon atoms. Ribose (aldose), ribulose (ketose) and deoxyribose are examples of pentoses. DNA contains a deoxyribose sugar while RNA contains ribose sugars.