DNA contains deoxyribose as the sugar component and RNA contains the sugar ribose.

Is deoxyribose in DNA or RNA?

Both DNA and RNA are built with a sugar backbone, but whereas the sugar in DNA is called deoxyribose (left in image), the sugar in RNA is called simply ribose (right in image).

Does RNA have deoxyribose?

Unlike DNA, RNA is usually single-stranded. Additionally, RNA contains ribose sugars rather than deoxyribose sugars, which makes RNA more unstable and more prone to degradation. RNA is synthesized from DNA by an enzyme known as RNA polymerase during a process called transcription.