List three structural characteristics of DNA.

Question

Accepted Answer

All right, hello everyone. So this question is asking us which of the following incorrectly describes the characteristic of DNA. So for this question, let's go ahead and run through each answer choice starting with option A which says that DNA consists of a double helix structure with two anti parallel strands. This is correct, right? Because recall that DNA is characteristically described as a double helix composed of two strands that run in opposite directions, hence the term anti parallel. So A is correct. Now statement B on the other hand says that the sugar and DNA is ribose, this is actually incorrect because DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. The first phrase, right. The first part of the phrase deoxy refers to its sugar backbone which is deoxyribose, not ribose. Recall that ribose is actually the sugar backbone of RNA, which stands for ribonucleic acid. Now statement C says that adenine pairs with thymine and guanine pairs with cytosine. This is true, right? Because recall that the two anti parallel strands of DNA are held together by hydrogen bonds between pairs of nitrogenous bases. So adenine of one strand would hydrogen bond with thymine of the other strand. And vice versa. The same is true with Sazen and Gui last but not least it says that DNA statement D says that DNA replication is semiconservative. This is also true because how does DNA replication actually work? Well, the first thing that happens is if you have a strand of DNA with two parrot strands, right? The first thing that happens is that those parent strands are separated from one another and so on each now, separate parrot strand, DNA polymerase is going to attach and it's going to replicate the complement of that parent strand. And so what happens as a result is that we're going to produce new molecules of DNA where one of the strands is the original and the other is the daughter strand having been synthesized during DNA replication. And so this is what we refer to as semiconservative because only half of the new DNA strand comes from the parent, the other half is the daughter strand. So considering now all four statements, the only one that's not correct is going to be option B, meaning that's going, that's going to be our answer. So there you have it. And with that being said, thank you so very much for watching. And I hope you found this helpful.

List three structural characteristics of DNA.

Verified video answer for a similar problem:

Key Concepts

Double Helix Structure

Antiparallel Strands

Base Pairing