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An organism's genome is analyzed and found to contain 18% guanine. What percentage of that organism's DNA is adenine?

User Nemesis
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1 Answer

7 votes

Answer:

32%

Step-by-step explanation:

According to Chargaff in his complementary base pairing rule, he stated that the proportion of purine and pyrimidine bases is equal to 100%

That is, A + T + G + C = 100%

Where A=T and G=C i.e the proportion of each base pair is equal.

Hence, if the Guanine content is 18%, it means the Cytosine content of that DNA molecule must also be 18%. Therefore:

18 + 18 + A + T = 100

A + T = 100 - 36

A + T = 64

If the sum proportion of Adenine and Thymine is 64% and each must contain equal proportions, A or T = 64/2 = 32

Hence, Adenine contains 32%, likewise Thymine.

User Gazreese
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