Question

a newly discovered organism has a genome size of 4,096,000 bp. you digest one copy of its genomic dna with the restriction enzyme ecori, which has a 6 bp recognition site. which is your best estimate of the number of dna fragments after complete digestion?

Answer 1

Upon digestion of a 4,096,000 bp genome with EcoRI, an enzyme with a 6 bp recognition site, an estimated 1,000 DNA fragments would be produced, assuming a random distribution of recognition sites.

Step-by-step explanation:

Restriction Enzyme Digestion:

When a genome of 4,096,000 base pairs is completely digested by the restriction enzyme EcoRI, which recognizes sites every 4,096 bp on average, we can estimate that the number of DNA fragments produced would be approximately 1,000 (since 4,096,000 bp / 4,096 bp per EcoRI site ≈ 1,000).

This is because EcoRI has a specific 6 bp recognition site, and if we assume random distribution of these sites, we can estimate the fragment count by dividing the total base pairs by the frequency of the recognition site. However, actual number could vary based on exact sequence of the genome and the real distribution of EcoRI sites.