Question

Suppose you know the sequence of bases on one DNA strand ( one side of the DNA ladder ) is AGCTCAG. what is the sequence of the bases on the opposite strand?

Answer 1

TCGAGTC is the matching strand sequence!

Answer 2

Answer:

CTGAGCT

Explanation:

DNA has a double stranded helical structure. The nucleotide of a DNA consist of the following bases; adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C). In DNA, the bases are on both strands and they pair with each other as follow

• Adenine only binds to thymine and vice versa
• Guanine only binds to cytosine and vice versa

When one strand is read in one direction, the other strand is read in the reverse direction; this is because the strands move in opposite direction and are written/represented as such.

So, based on the above, the opposing strand of AGCTCAG is written as CTGAGCT not as TCGAGTC.