Final answer:
A transversion mutation substituting cytosine with adenine in a DNA sequence results in the complementary base changing from guanine to thymine to maintain proper base pairing, following DNA's base-pairing rules.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student asks about the consequence of a transversion mutation in DNA where a cytosine (C) is replaced with an adenine (A). In a typical DNA double helix, adenine (A) pairs with thymine (T) and cytosine (C) pairs with guanine (G). If a transversion mutation substituting a C with an A occurs in one strand of DNA, the complementary strand that originally had a G expecting to pair with a C will now encounter an A. Instead of the original base pairing, this sequence on the complementary strand will incorporate a T to pair with the A, due to the base pairing rules of DNA.
For instance, if the original DNA sequence on one strand is 5'-ACCG-3', and there is a transversion mutation where the C is replaced by an A, the sequence becomes 5'-AACG-3'. Consequently, the complementary strand which originally was 3'-TGGC-5', will base pair with the mutated strand yielding 3'-TTGC-5'.