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Erwin Chargaffs discovery that DNA contains equimolar amounts of guanine and cytosine
Chapter 23, Problem 23-55(choose chapter or problem)
Erwin Chargaff’s discovery that DNA contains equimolar amounts of guanine and cytosine and also equimolar amounts of adenine and thymine has come to be known as Chargaff’s rule:
G = C and A = T
(a) Does Chargaff’s rule imply that equal amounts of guanine and adenine are present in DNA? That is, does G = A?
(b) Does Chargaff’s rule imply that the sum of the purine residues equals the sum of the pyrimidine residues? That is, does A + G = C + T?
(c) Does Chargaff’s rule apply only to double-stranded DNA, or would it also apply to each individual strand if the double helical strand were separated into its two complementary strands?
Questions & Answers
QUESTION:
Erwin Chargaff’s discovery that DNA contains equimolar amounts of guanine and cytosine and also equimolar amounts of adenine and thymine has come to be known as Chargaff’s rule:
G = C and A = T
(a) Does Chargaff’s rule imply that equal amounts of guanine and adenine are present in DNA? That is, does G = A?
(b) Does Chargaff’s rule imply that the sum of the purine residues equals the sum of the pyrimidine residues? That is, does A + G = C + T?
(c) Does Chargaff’s rule apply only to double-stranded DNA, or would it also apply to each individual strand if the double helical strand were separated into its two complementary strands?
ANSWER:Step 1 of 3
In more specific terms, the amount of adenine is equal to the guanine and the amount of tyrosine is equal to the cytosine. Hence, equal amounts of guanine and adenine are present in DNA.
Therefore, A=G