You have isolated the DNA of an organism and have done some tests in the lab. One of the tests showed that 18% of the bases were Thymine. Based on this knowledge alone, what is the percentage of Guanine that you expect?

1 answer

In DNA, the base pairs are always complementary, meaning that Adenine (A) pairs with Thymine (T), and Guanine (G) pairs with Cytosine (C).

Since the DNA molecule is double-stranded, the percentage of Thymine (T) base pairs should be equal to the percentage of Adenine (A) base pairs. Therefore, if 18% of the bases are Thymine (T), then 18% of the bases will also be Adenine (A).

Since the total percentage of bases should add up to 100%, and we already have accounted for 18% for Thymine and Adenine, we can calculate the percentage of Guanine (G) as follows:

Total percentage of bases - [Percentage of Thymine (T) + Percentage of Adenine (A)] = Percentage of Guanine (G)
100% - (18% + 18%) = 100% - 36% = 64%

Therefore, based on this knowledge alone, you would expect the percentage of Guanine (G) to be 64%.