Question

If the parent strand of DNA is 5'atggcttac'3 what will the daughter strand be?

Answer 1

Answer:

If the parent strand of DNA is 5' atggcttac 3', then the daughter strand will be 3' taccgaatg 5' .

Explanation:

The DNA (deoxyribo nucleic acid) has a double helix structure with the two strands running in antiparallel directions to each other, and the nitrogenous bases in them are adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C) and guanine (G). In DNA, the complementary base pairs are adenine (A) with thymine (T) and cytosine (C) with guanine (G).

DNA replication is the process in which DNA is copied during the cell division cycle. During replication, the complementary strands of the original double helix DNA are separated and one of the two strands in the original molecule is saved in the new DNA molecule. The process where part of the DNA is saved during replication is known as semi conservative replication. Thus the new DNA molecule is made of an original strand and a newly synthesized strand.  During DNA  replication, an enzyme known as DNA helicase breaks the hydrogen bonding between the base pairs, adenine with thymine and cytosine with guanine. This unwinds the parental DNA double helix into two separate strands and thus creates a Y shaped replication fork, where the template for replication begins.