Question

a forensic scientist is trying to find out the number of adenine bases in the dna sample that he obtained from a crime scene. what can he assume about the number of adenine? the number of adenine bases will be equal to the number of guanine bases. the number of adenine bases will be equal to the total of all the other bases. the number of adenine bases will be equal to the number of thymine bases. the number of adenine bases will be half of the number of cytosine bases.

Explanation:

In DNA, adenine (A) pairs with thymine (T) through hydrogen bonds. According to Chargaff's rules, the amount of adenine is equal to the amount of thymine in a DNA molecule. Guanine (G) pairs with cytosine (C), so the amount of G equals the amount of C. The first option is incorrect because A ≠ G. The second option is wrong as A is not equal to the sum of all other bases. The fourth option is incorrect as there is no such relationship that A is half of C.

Answer:

The number of adenine bases will be equal to the number of thymine bases.