Which term describes a polymer of thousands of simple sugars formed by dehydration synthesis?

• A. Polysaccharide
• B. Nucleic acid
• C. Lipid
• D. Monosaccharide

Answer: (A)

Polysaccharides are polymers made from many sugar units linked by glycosidic bonds formed during dehydration synthesis. In this condensation reaction, each bond forms as a water molecule is removed, building long carbohydrate chains. Examples include starch, glycogen, and cellulose. By contrast, nucleic acids are polymers of nucleotides, lipids are not long sugar polymers, and a monosaccharide is a single sugar unit. Therefore, the term for a polymer of thousands of simple sugars formed by dehydration synthesis is polysaccharide.