Question

How many hydrogen bonds exist between this DNA strand and its complementary strand?

5\'

Answer 1

Concepts and reason

The concept used is based on the heredity. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the genetic basis of life. DNA is made of nucleotides- A, T, G and C (A- adenine; T-thymine; G-guanine; C-cytosine). The DNA helix is double stranded, that is two DNA strands are intertwined with each other to form the DNA double helix. The two strands of DNA interact with each other via hydrogen bonding.

Fundamentals

In the DNA double helix, the nitrogenous bases in the opposite strands pair with each other, A pairs with T and G pairs with C. These bonds between the two helices of the DNA are hydrogen bonds. A hydrogen bond is formed between a hydrogen acceptor, which is an electronegative atom and a hydrogen donor (mostly a hydrogen atom linked to another atom). Hydrogen bonds play a pivotal role in the stability factor of the DNA double helix molecule.

The DNA strand given in the question is as follows-

The complementary strand to this will be-

The complete double helix structure sequence is-

There exists hydrogen bonding between the nucleotides on the opposite strands of the double helical DNA. The total number of hydrogen bonds can be calculated.

Ans:

There are hydrogen bonds between the given DNA strand and its complementary strand.