cytosine percentage in base ??????????

mollykins | 18:48 Sun 19th Dec 2010 | Science

5 Answers

I'm doing an online test, on the snab website but there's this one question that makes absolutely no sense at all;

Analysis of a DNA molecule showed thymine accounted for 8% of the content of nitrogenous bases.

Calculate the percentage of bases in the molecule that would be cytosine.

How the heck am I meant to be able to do that?

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Fair-Stumped

Mollykins,

There are only four different bases present in DNA and these always pair off in the same way. If you know which ones pair together and how much there is of any one base you should be able to work out how much there is of the other three bases. Remember the total will be 100%.

mollykins

Question Author

So would it be 42% ?

Fair-Stumped

Amazing what you can do when you think about it

mollykins

Question Author

Thanks, I didn't know it was so simple, but i'd never been told this stuff . . .

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Do you know the answer?