DNA has two strands. If the sequence of nucleotides of one strand was known, is it possible to use that information to determine the sequence of the second strand? Explain your reasoning for your response.

Question

Salvatore

Biology

17 October, 07:07

DNA has two strands. If the sequence of nucleotides of one strand was known, is it possible to use that information to determine the sequence of the second strand? Explain your reasoning for your response.

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Rebecca · Answer 1

Yes it is possible to determine the possible sequence of the second strand, as knowing that the strands run in anti parallel manner, the orientation of the deoxyribose sugar and the phosphate groups would be in the opposite direction as compared to the first strand, which is told based on the carbon on the phosphate and the sugar. Also since we know the base pairing rules of DNA, we can determine the nucleotide sequence of nitrogenous bases for the second strand.

A-T

G-C.