Question

during your summer job at virotech, you isolate a previously unknown virus. analysis of its genome reveals that it is composed of a double stranded dna molecule containing 14% t (thymine). based on this information, what would you predict the %c (cytosine) to be?

Answer 1

Using Chargaff's rules, which state that A=T and G=C in double-stranded DNA, the percentage of cytosine (C) is predicted to be equal to that of guanine (G). Since there is 14% thymine (T), there must also be 14% adenine (A), making 28% of the bases A and T combined and leaving 72% for G and C. Therefore, the percentage of cytosine would be 36%.

Step-by-step explanation:

Based on the information that the virus is composed of a double stranded DNA molecule with 14% thymine (T), we can use Chargaff's rules to predict the percentage of cytosine (C).

Chargaff's rules state that in DNA, the amount of adenine (A) is equal to the amount of thymine (T), and the amount of guanine (G) is equal to the amount of cytosine (C).

Therefore, if there is 14% T, there must also be 14% A.

That accounts for 28% of the bases, leaving 72% for G and C combined.

Since G is equal to C, we divide the remaining percentage by 2 to find the percentage for C, which is 36%. Hence, we would predict the percentage of cytosine to be 36%.