3/19/26, 7:25 PM Solved Problems
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3/19/26, 7:25 PM Solved Problems
SOLVED PROBLEMS
Solved Problem I
Imagine that the double-stranded DNA molecule shown
was broken at the sites indicated by spaces in the
sequence, and that before the breaks were repaired, the 8
base-pair DNA fragment between the breaks was reversed
(inverted). What would be the base sequence of the
repaired molecule? Explain your reasoning.
5′ TAAGCGTAACC AGTATGCG GGGTCCTATTAACGTGCG 3′
3′ ATTCGCATTGG TCATACGC CCCAGGATAATTGCACGC 5′
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Answer
The top strand has the polarity left to right of 5′ to 3′. The
reversed region must be rejoined with the same polarity.
Label the polarity of the strands within the inverting
region. To have a 5′-to-3′ polarity maintained on the top
strand, the fragment that is reversed (boxed in the diagram
that follows) must also be flipped over, so the strand that
was formerly on the bottom is now on top. In other words,
the inverted fragment is rotated 180° along the axis of the
double helix.
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Solved Problem II
A new virus has recently been discovered that infects
human lymphocytes. The virus can be grown in the
laboratory using cultured lymphocytes as host cells. Design
an experiment using a radioactive label that would tell you
if the virus contains DNA or RNA.
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Answer
RNA contains uracil instead of the thymine found in
DNA. You could set up one culture in which you add
radioactive uracil to the medium and a second one in
which you add radioactive thymine. After the viruses have
infected cells, collect the newly synthesized viruses.
Determine which culture produced radioactive viruses. If
the viruses contain RNA, the collected viruses grown in
medium with radioactive uracil will be radioactive, but the
viruses grown in radioactive thymine will not be radioactive.
If the viruses contain DNA, the collected viruses from the
culture with radioactive thymine will be radioactive, but the
viruses from the radioactive uracil culture will not.
(You might also consider using radioactively labeled ribose
or deoxyribose to differentiate between an RNA- and
DNA-containing virus. Technically this does not work as
well because the radioactive sugars are processed by cells
before they are incorporated into nucleic acid, thereby
obscuring the results.)
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Solved Problem III
If you expose a culture of human cells to 3H-thymidine (a
nucleoside containing thymine and deoxyribose) during S
phase, how would the radioactivity be distributed over a pair
of homologous chromosomes at metaphase? Would the
radioactivity be in (a) one chromatid of one homolog, (b)
both chromatids of one homolog, (c) one chromatid each
of both homologs, (d) both chromatids of both homologs,
or (e) some other pattern? Choose the correct answer and
explain your reasoning.
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Answer
DNA replication occurs during S phase, so the 3H-
thymidine would be incorporated into the new DNA
strands. A chromatid is a replicated DNA molecule, and
each new DNA molecule contains one new strand of DNA
(semiconservative replication). The radioactivity would be
in both chromatids of both homologs (answer d).
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