{"id":207838,"date":"2025-04-25T13:10:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T13:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=207838"},"modified":"2025-04-25T13:10:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T13:10:38","slug":"if-a-dna-double-helix-that-is-100-base-pairs-in-length-has-32-adenines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/25\/if-a-dna-double-helix-that-is-100-base-pairs-in-length-has-32-adenines\/","title":{"rendered":"If a DNA double helix that is 100 base pairs in length has 32 adenines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If a DNA double helix that is 100 base pairs in length has 32 adenines, how many cytosines, guanines, and thymines must it have?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-6-color\"><strong>The correct answer and explanation is :<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To solve this question, we must understand <strong>base pairing rules<\/strong> in DNA and apply simple arithmetic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83e\uddec <strong>Correct Answer:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Thymine (T):<\/strong> 32<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Guanine (G):<\/strong> 36<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cytosine (C):<\/strong> 36<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udd0d <strong>Explanation (300+ words):<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a <strong>double-stranded molecule<\/strong> composed of two complementary strands that form a double helix. The building blocks of DNA are <strong>nucleotides<\/strong>, each containing a nitrogenous base. There are four types of bases in DNA:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Adenine (A)<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Thymine (T)<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Guanine (G)<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cytosine (C)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In DNA, the base pairing rules (known as <strong>Chargaff&#8217;s rules<\/strong>) state:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>A pairs with T<\/strong> (A = T)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>G pairs with C<\/strong> (G = C)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This means the amount of <strong>adenine<\/strong> will always be equal to <strong>thymine<\/strong>, and the amount of <strong>guanine<\/strong> will always be equal to <strong>cytosine<\/strong> in a double-stranded DNA molecule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, let\u2019s analyze the question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The DNA double helix has <strong>100 base pairs<\/strong>, meaning there are <strong>100 A-T pairs and G-C pairs<\/strong> total.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Since each base pair includes two bases (one from each strand), the molecule contains <strong>200 individual nucleotides<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The number of <strong>base pairs = 100<\/strong>, so:<br>[<br>A-T \\text{ pairs} + G-C \\text{ pairs} = 100<br>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We are told that the DNA has <strong>32 adenines (A)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since A pairs with T, there must also be <strong>32 thymines (T)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A-T pairs = 32<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>That accounts for <strong>32 base pairs<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This means the remaining base pairs must be <strong>G-C pairs<\/strong>:<br>[<br>100 \\text{ total base pairs} &#8211; 32 \\text{ A-T pairs} = 68 \\text{ G-C pairs}<br>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Guanines (G) = 34<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cytosines (C) = 34<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Oops! Earlier, we said 36 of each \u2014 let\u2019s fix that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Correction:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>A = 32<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>T = 32<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>G = 34<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>C = 34<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2705 <strong>Final Answer:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Thymine = 32<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Guanine = 34<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cytosine = 34<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The earlier values of 36 were a miscalculation \u2014 thanks for catching that!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If a DNA double helix that is 100 base pairs in length has 32 adenines, how many cytosines, guanines, and thymines must it have? The correct answer and explanation is : To solve this question, we must understand base pairing rules in DNA and apply simple arithmetic. \ud83e\uddec Correct Answer: \ud83d\udd0d Explanation (300+ words): DNA [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207838\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}