Question

Read the scenario. Jake and Pari are completing a biology assignment. One of the questions asks them to determine the base amounts in a sample of DNA. The students come up with the following base amounts: 10% adenine 15% thymine 40% cytosine 40% guanine

Answer 1

Answer:

There should be 10% thymine

Explanation:

DNA bases come in specific pairs. Guanine pairs up with cytosine and adenine pairs up with Thymine.

According to the problem the DNA sample was 40% cytosine and 40% guanine, so this is correct, there are equal amounts of cytosine and guanine. Now Thymine needs to have equal amounts as adenine, but adenine only has 10%.

If we match up the amount of adenine to thymine, we would have 15% adenine and 15% thymine, but that would excede 100%. So you need to match the thymine to adenine.

10% adenine + 10 % thymine + 40% cytosine + 40% guanine = 100%