Sphingolipids have backbone features described as

Sphingolipids have backbone features described as

• A. backbone with aliphatic amino alcohols
• B. glycerol backbone with fatty acids
• C. steroid nucleus
• D. sugar residues in a glycoprotein

Answer: (D)

Sphingolipids have a backbone based on sphingosine, an aliphatic amino alcohol. This means their core structure is built from an amino alcohol rather than a glycerol backbone (as in glycerophospholipids) or a steroid nucleus (as in steroids). Some sphingolipids carry sugar groups as head groups (glycosphingolipids), but the backbone itself is still the sphingoid amino alcohol. In contrast, sugar residues attached to proteins describe glycoproteins, not the lipid backbone. So the defining feature is an aliphatic amino alcohol backbone.

Sphingolipids have a backbone based on sphingosine, an aliphatic amino alcohol. This means their core structure is built from an amino alcohol rather than a glycerol backbone (as in glycerophospholipids) or a steroid nucleus (as in steroids). Some sphingolipids carry sugar groups as head groups (glycosphingolipids), but the backbone itself is still the sphingoid amino alcohol. In contrast, sugar residues attached to proteins describe glycoproteins, not the lipid backbone. So the defining feature is an aliphatic amino alcohol backbone.