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Topic: More T's than A's?  (Read 4818 times)

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Offline nj_bartel

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More T's than A's?
« on: March 08, 2010, 12:54:26 PM »
Practice exam question - The base composition of bacteriophage M13 (a virus) is A, 23%, T, 36%, G, 21%, and C, 20%. What does this tell you about the DNA of M13?


Can't really figure out an answer I'm happy with.  It could be a single stranded DNA that forms some complex structure, using excess T's for unpaired sequences to give the ability to fold up into a cruciform or whatnot.

Anything more plausible?  Thanks :)
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Offline Mitch

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Re: More T's than A's?
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2010, 01:40:21 PM »
The topic of this thread is sadly misleading.
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Offline Yggdrasil

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Re: More T's than A's?
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2010, 01:49:21 PM »
You've got it basically right.  Any double stranded DNA would have an equal amount of Ts and As.  Since this is not the case, the M13 genome must be a single stranded DNA (which is in fact true).

lol Mitch.  You know you're a biochemist if you looked at the title of this thread and DNA is the first thing that crossed your mind.
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Offline nj_bartel

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Re: More T's than A's?
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2010, 02:03:23 PM »
Overthought that question soooo much, thanks a bunch.

And Mitch, explain!  I'm working on a couple hours of sleep and am sorely confused.
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Offline hunter-gatherer

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Re: More T's than A's?
« Reply #4 on: March 08, 2010, 06:55:58 PM »
More T[its] than A[ss]. 
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Offline nj_bartel

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Re: More T's than A's?
« Reply #5 on: March 09, 2010, 12:16:04 AM »
I am such a puritan
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