To find the complementary DNA strand, you can use the base pairing rules of DNA, which are:
- Adenine (A) pairs with Thymine (T)
- Cytosine (C) pairs with Guanine (G)
Given the original strand:
5'-ATC GCT AAT-3'
The complementary strand can be constructed by pairing each base:
- A pairs with T
- T pairs with A
- C pairs with G
- G pairs with C
- C pairs with G
- T pairs with A
- A pairs with T
- T pairs with A
So the complementary strand would be:
3'-TAG CGA TTA-5'
It's common to write complementary DNA strands in the 5' to 3' direction, so reversing this, the complementary strand in conventional notation would be:
5'-TTA CGC TAG-3'