Final answer:
The opposite of DNA denaturing is called annealing, during which complementary DNA strands hydrogen bond to form a stable double-stranded structure. Annealing is critical in processes such as DNA replication and biotechnological applications.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process that is described as the opposite of denaturing DNA, where the complementary strands become paired, is best defined as annealing. This process involves the formation of hydrogen bonds between the nucleotide base pairs of two single-stranded complementary nucleic acid sequences. During annealing, single strands of DNA are cooled and mixed with short segments called primers, which are complementary to specific sections of the DNA strands. As a result, the separate DNA strands come together to form a stable double-stranded structure.
Denaturing DNA involves separating the two strands by breaking the hydrogen bonds through heat or chemicals, resulting in single-stranded DNA. The base complementary rule is crucial for DNA replication and ensures that correct base pairing occurs, with adenine (A) pairing with thymine (T), and cytosine (C) pairing with guanine (G).