A scientist has just discovered a new previously unidentified virus. He believes

Question

A scientist has just discovered a new previously unidentified virus. He believes that this virus uses DNA as its genetic information (a DNA virus) and not RNA (an RNA virus). f. Testing for the presence of what particular two molecules are most appropriate in determining if his hypothesis is correct? (2pt) He then wanted to determine if this virus was a single stranded DNA (ssDNA) virus or a double stranded DNA (dsDNA) virus. He therefore decides to do this by testing the overall percentage of Adenine, Guanine, Thymine and Cytosine in the DNA. He discovers the following: 25% A, 33% T, 22% C, and 20% G. Using these values, what inference can you make regarding the state of the virus's DNA? Explain. (2pts) g.

Explanation / Answer

Part 1)

In a DNA virus, there will be (A=T) base pair, whereas in an RNA virus there will be (A=U) base pair. Therefore, testing for adenine and thymine molecules will be sufficient for determining if his hypothesis is correct or not

Part 2)

According to Chargraff's rule of double-stranded DNA, for perfect base pairing, the percentage of the adenine should be equal to the percentage of the thymidine and the percentage of the cytosine should be equal to the percentage of the guanine. Here, we can see that the percentage of A not equal to T and the percentage of G not equal to C. This means that the virus must be single-stranded DNA and not double-stranded DNA

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