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Science Question?!?! ?

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Okay we're learning about Notation in Science and the question is...

DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, contains four nucleic acid bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), thymine (T). and uracil (U). Write out an explanation for the following notation that describes a section of a DNA strand.

AATGUTG

so would it be that that DNA strand has two adenine, two thymine, one uracil, and 2 guanine bases?

but i'm confused as why the letters are in a different order. wouldn't it be easier to group the same letter together?

can someone help?!

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4 ANSWERS


  1. Ummm... DNA does not have uracil.  RNA has uracil (all three types, mRNA, tRNA and rRNA have it).  You are missing the base "cytosine" (referred to as C) in the possible DNA bases.  It is impossible to have a naturally-occurring DNA strand with the sequence, "AATGUTG" (synthetic oligonucleotides with that sequence might be able to be made, I'm not 100% sure).

    I HIGHLY recommend you see your teacher about this ASAP because if this is what he/she taught you, it is NOT correct!

    The first poster is correct in that the order matters (AATGCTG is NOT the same as AATTGGC [notice they have the same amount of each type of base, but in a different order]).   You'll learn why later in bio class but basically it's like reading a book, you wouldn't write a sentence like this-

    AaaDdeehIiiikklNnnnoooqrrssstttuwww

    when you want to say, "I like to work with DNA and answer questions".   They have the exact same letters but just in a very different order, clearly they mean very different things!


  2. This is a specific genetic code. AATGUTG is the formula for one thing, while AAGTUTG would be another. Remember that there are only four bases. There are billions of species.

  3. This shows the order of the bases in the strand. A DNA strand is just a big chain of bases that, when taken as a whole, is like a code. It tells the body what to do. So AATGUTG is a part of the code that, though it doesn't mean much to us, tells the body to do something.

    Order matters in DNA just like in a combination lock. You can't just use the right numbers in any order; order matters, too.

    Hope that helps.

    If you need more, just edit the question; I'll check back soon.

    Edit:

    HT-5 is quite right. I didn't notice the first time through. Uracil probably shouldn't be there; even though it is a breakdown product of cytosine, it usually takes the place of thymine in RNA.

    It is just the order of bases. That is the DNA code. Order counts. That's really the only way I know of to describe exactly what a DNA strand is; tell the bases (in order).

    You could possibly look up what this strand might specifically do, but I don't think that's what is being asked here.

  4. The way the letters are arranged is the way the acid bases are arranged in the DNA molecule, and there they aren't grouped the way you suggest, the same next to each other. The way they are arranged determines how you look and other things about your organism.
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