Answer:
complementary base-pairing rules
Explanation:
DNA is the genetic material of living cells. It is a long chain of double-stranded molecules, in which each strand is complementary to one another i.e. Adenine base is paired with Thymine base while Guanine base pairs with Cytosine base following the complementary base pairing rule as proposed by Chargaff. This pairing is responsible for the double helical structure of the DNA.
The complementary base pairs that a DNA molecule contains make it able to produce identical copies of itself during replication or duplication. Before replication of DNA can occur, the double strands need to unwind to form two separate strands, which serves as a template for the synthesis of new complementary strands.
In this manner, each new strand contains one template strand and one complementary strand, which forms two new double helix that is identical to the original strand. This two identical copies of DNA gets separated into two daughter cells, which is the essence of the DNA replication.
