You are given three samples of nucleic acid and asked to determine each sample\'

Question

You are given three samples of nucleic acid and asked to determine each sample's chemical and physical identity. You use nucleases to completely degrade the samples in to their constituent nucleotides and determine their approximate relative proportions. The results are as follows. What can you deduce and why? [16pts]
Sample 1         dAMP 37%     dCMP 12%     dGMP 13%     dTMP 38%
Sample 2         dAMP 43%     dCMP 35%     dGMP 15%     dTMP 7%
Sample 3         dAMP 35%     dCMP 15%     dGMP 15%     dTMP 10%     UMP 25%

Explanation / Answer

Sample 1 has virtually identical proportions of dAMP and dTMP, and of dCMP and dGMP. It may be implied this sample is a duplex DNA, meaning two strands of DNA that are complementary. [dAMP] = [dTMP] [dCMP] = [dGMP] Sample 2 does not have identical proportions of dAMP and dTMP, and dCMP and dGMP. Therefore, this sample may be of non-complementary single strands of DNA. [dAMP] not equal [dTMP] [dCMP] not equal [dGMP] Sample 3 contains UMP, implying there is RNA in the mix. Moreover, [dAMP] = [dTMP] + [dUMP] [dCMP] = [dGMP] It may be implied that this sample contains heteroduplex DNA/RNA, meaning a stretch of DNA forming a double strands with a complementary stretch of RNA.

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