Explanation: The four nitrogenous bases of DNA are thymine, adenine, guanine, and cytosine. Guanine and cytosine are bound together by three hydrogen bonds; whereas, adenine and thymine are bound together by two hydrogen bonds. This is known as complementary base pairing.
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What does it mean that DNA bases are complementary?
The nucleotides in a base pair are complementary which means their shape allows them to bond together with hydrogen bonds. The A-T pair forms two hydrogen bonds. The C-G pair forms three. The hydrogen bonding between complementary bases holds the two strands of DNA together.
What are complementary base pairs simple definition?
Complementary base pairing is the phenomenon where in DNA guanine always hydrogen bonds to cytosine and adenine always binds to thymine. The bond between guanine and cytosine shares three hydrogen bonds compared to the A-T bond which always shares two hydrogen bonds.
What are the 4 complementary bases of DNA?
Attached to each sugar is one of four bases: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) [GWA-NeeN] or thymine (T). The two strands are held together by hydrogen bonds between pairs of bases: adenine pairs with thymine, and cytosine pairs with guanine.
How do you find complementary bases?
Chargaff’s rule, also known as the complementary base pairing rule, states that DNA base pairs are always adenine with thymine (A-T) and cytosine with guanine (C-G). A purine always pairs with a pyrimidine and vice versa.
What is a complementary strand in biology?
complementary strand in American English noun Biochemistry. 1. either of the two chains that make up a double helix of DNA, with corresponding positions on the two chains being composed of a pair of complementary bases. 2. a section of one nucleic acid chain that is bonded to another by a sequence of base pairs.
Why are DNA strands complementary?
Adenine is bound thymine and guanine to cytosine. Due to this base pairing principle, the sequence of bases in one strand automatically fixes the sequence of bases in the other stand. Thus, the two strands are not identical but are complimentary.
What are the complementary base pairs in DNA quizlet?
Adenine forms hydrogen bonds with thymine whereas guanine forms hydrogen bonds with cytosine. This is called complementary base pairing.
Which is an example of complementary base pairing in DNA?

What is the complementary base sequence of the DNA strand?
Complementary Sequence: Since DNA has two strands, every DNA sequence has a complementary sequence running parallel. In the complementary sequence, Adenine (A) is always paired with Thymine (T), and Cytosine (C) is always paired with Guanine (G).
What is complementary base pairing in DNA replication?
Replication relies on complementary base pairing, that is the principle explained by Chargaff’s rules: adenine (A) always bonds with thymine (T) and cytosine (C) always bonds with guanine (G).
Why is complementary base pairing important?
Complementary base pairing is important because the hydrogen bonds between the bases hold the two strands of DNA together and because it serves as a way for DNA to replicate.
What does complementary mean in biology quizlet?
Terms in this set (18) Complementary base pairing. describes the manner in which the nitrogenous bases of the DNA molecules align with each other.
What is the complementary DNA strand quizlet?
Complementary sequence is a nucleic acid sequence of bases that can form a double-stranded structure by matching base pairs of a purine and a pyrimidine. The nucleotides in a base pair are complementary which means their shape allows them to bond together with hydrogen bonds.
What does the law of complementary base pairing tell us quizlet?
Describes the manner in which the nitrogenous bases of DNA molecules align with each other.
What are the four pairs of DNA bases that form in the double helix quizlet?
Two nitrogen-containing bases (or nucleotides) that pair together to form the structure of DNA. The four bases in DNA are adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T). These bases form specific pairs (A with T, and G with C).
How do we make complementary DNA quizlet?
DNA replication uses DNA polymerase to use one of the DNA template strands to make a complementary strand through base pairing. Similarly transcription uses RNA polymerase to make a complementary RNA strand that’s connected by phosphodiester linkages with the same base pairing rules.
What is mRNA complementary to?
mRNA is a complementary copy of a DNA segment (gene) and consequently can be used to deduce the gene sequence. For converting a sequence from mRNA to the original DNA code, apply the rules of complementary base pairing: Cytosine (C) is replaced with Guanine (G) โ and vice versa.
How many base pairs does DNA have?
The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T).
How many combinations of DNA bases are there?
In a tetranucleotide block where the nucleotides can appear more than once and the order is random, there can be 256 possible combinations. 256 is a large number of possible DNA letters.
What is the difference between a base pair and a nucleotide pair quizlet?
Explain the difference between a nucleotide and a “base.” – Base implies one of the nitrogenous bases( adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine). – One nucleotide is composed of a base, a deoxyribose sugar, and a phosphate.
What is the process of using DNA to produce complementary RNA molecules?
The Transcription Process. The process of transcription begins when an enzyme called RNA polymerase (RNA pol) attaches to the template DNA strand and begins to catalyze production of complementary RNA.
What sequence in mRNA complements the DNA template?
The codon is the three nucleotide sequence in the mRNA that indicates which amino acid should be incorporated in the growing polypeptide chain. The anticodon is the complementary three nucleotide sequence in the appropriate tRNA. b. Template strand is the DNA strand off which the mRNA is synthesized.
What process produces a complementary RNA sequence from a DNA sequence template quizlet?
During transcription, segments of DNA serve as templates to produce complementary RNA molecules.
What are the 3 bases of tRNA called?
Roughly in the middle of the tRNA molecule is a sequence of three bases called the anticodon. These three bases are hydrogen bonded to a complementary sequence in an RNA moleculeโ called messenger RNA, mRNAโ during protein synthesis. All tRNA molecules have the same basic L-shaped tertiary structures (Figure 30.20).