One of two forms of a sugar molecule that differ only in the arrangement of atoms around a single carbon atom, making them different structures with the same molecular formula.
From Greek 'ano-' (up) + 'meros' (part), coined in the early 1900s by chemists studying carbohydrate structures. The term describes how sugar molecules can exist in multiple forms depending on which side a hydroxyl group points.
This is why glucose can exist as two different forms (alpha and beta) even though they have the same atoms—like how your left and right hands are mirror images! This matters hugely in biology because enzymes often recognize only one anomer, which is why the structure of sugar affects how our bodies use it.
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