Biotechnological Applications In Medicine
A clinician begins a PCR-based diagnostic test with a single double-stranded DNA molecule; how many copies will theoretically be present after ten complete amplification cycles?
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About This Question
- Subject
- biology
- Chapter
- biotechnology and its applications
- Topic
- biotechnological applications in medicine
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Year
- 2025
Solution
Correct Answer:
1024
Each cycle of the polymerase chain reaction doubles the number of target DNA molecules, so starting from one molecule the count after n cycles is given by 2 raised to the power n, a quantitative idea underlying the technique described in NCERT Class 12, Chapter 11 (Biotechnology and its Applications). For ten cycles this gives 2 to the power 10, which equals 1024 copies. This exponential amplification is what allows PCR to generate millions to billions of copies in roughly thirty cycles, making even a trace amount of starting material detectable. The value 512 corresponds to 2 to the power 9, which would be the count after only nine cycles, so it underestimates the result. The figure 2048 equals 2 to the power 11, representing eleven cycles, which overshoots the requirement. The number 100 does not correspond to any power-of-two amplification and reflects a misunderstanding of the doubling process. A data-range sanity check confirms the answer: doubling once per cycle for ten cycles must yield 2 to the power 10, namely 1024, which is consistent and lies between the 2 to the power 9 and 2 to the power 11 values offered.
This hard difficulty biology question is from the chapter biotechnology and its applications, covering the topic of biotechnological applications in medicine. It appeared in the 2025 exam.
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