Imagine you have discovered a new species of bacteria. To begin your investigation of this organism, you run an assay on the total nucleotide content of the bacterial DNA. If the cytosine content of DNA from the bacterial cells is 40%, what is the adenine content?
A)10 %
B)20%
C)40%
D)605
E)It is not possible to calculate this number for prokaryotes.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

According to Chargaff's rules, in DNA, the amount of cytosine (C) is equal to the amount of guanine (G), and the amount of adenine (A) is equal to the amount of thymine (T). If cytosine is 40%, then guanine is also 40%, making up 80% of the DNA. The remaining 20% must be split equally between adenine and thymine, so adenine is 10%.

Imagine You Have Discovered a New Species of Bacteria