Final answer:
If a control had been performed and the results showed 339 cpm (counts per minute), we could conclude that the RNA the probe could bind to is present in the sample but does not necessarily reflect the specific RNA.
Step-by-step explanation:
Sequence being targeted by the probe. This could be due to the presence of other RNA sequences that also have an affinity for the probe but are not the specific sequences of interest, such as conserved regions among different RNAs or simply a background level of non-specific binding.
In the context of the RNA replication and transcription process, if a probe is designed to bind to a specific RNA sequence and the control shows binding activity, we can infer that the sequence is present, but without comparing it to a test sample which includes the target sequence, we cannot ascertain whether the probe specifically binds only to the RNA of interest.