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Nucleic Acids

Mediumchemistry

In a double-stranded DNA sample, analysis shows that adenine constitutes 30 percent of the total nitrogenous bases. Based on complementary base pairing rules, what is the combined percentage of guanine and cytosine in that DNA?

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About This Question

Subject
chemistry
Chapter
biomolecules
Topic
nucleic acids
Difficulty
Medium
Year
2025
Tags
Chargaff rulebase pairingDNA compositioncomplementary basespurine pyrimidine

Solution

Correct Answer:

40 percent

Chargaff's rules govern base composition in double-stranded DNA and let us deduce unknown percentages from a single measured value. Because adenine always pairs with thymine and guanine always pairs with cytosine through specific hydrogen bonding, the mole percent of adenine equals that of thymine, and the mole percent of guanine equals that of cytosine. Here adenine is 30 percent, so thymine is also 30 percent, accounting together for 60 percent of all bases. The remaining bases must be guanine and cytosine, so their combined percentage is 100 minus 60, which equals 40 percent. Hence the answer is 40 percent. The choice of 30 percent wrongly assumes guanine alone equals adenine; 60 percent confuses the A plus T total with the G plus C total; and 20 percent comes from an incorrect halving. This applies the complementary base-pairing principle described in the NCERT Biomolecules chapter. As a consistency check, splitting the 40 percent equally gives guanine 20 percent and cytosine 20 percent, and the full set 30 + 30 + 20 + 20 sums to 100 percent, confirming the result is internally consistent with Chargaff's equalities.

This medium difficulty chemistry question is from the chapter biomolecules, covering the topic of nucleic acids. It appeared in the 2025 exam.

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