Final answer:
The number of possible sequence combinations for an RNA molecule made of 100 nucleotides, given four types of nucleotides, is 4^100.
(Option b) is correct.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question pertains to the number of possible sequence combinations that can be created for an RNA molecule made of 100 nucleotides.
Since there are four different nucleotides in RNA (adenine, uracil, guanine, and cytosine), and each position in the sequence can be filled by any of these four nucleotides, we use the base-four exponentiation to calculate the total number of combinations.
The formula for calculation is 4^n, where n is the number of nucleotide positions. In this case, n = 100, so the number of possible sequence combinations is 4^100.
Therefore, the answer to the student's question is: Because there are four different monomer building blocks that can be used to assemble RNA polymers, the number of possible sequence combinations that can be created for an RNA molecule made of 100 nucleotides is 4^100
(Option b) is correct.