Question

If the sequence of bases in a section of DNA is ATCCGATT, what is the corresponding sequence of bases in mRNA?

Answer 1

UAGGCUAA

Explanation:

First, think about which base pairs arise in complementary strands of DNA:

DNA → DNA

• adenine → thymine (A → T)
• thymine → adenine (T → A)
• cytosine → guanine (C → G)
• guanine → cytosine (G → C)

However, mRNA does not consist of the same four bases as DNA. While DNA has the ATCG nitrogenous bases, RNA replaces thymine with uracil, making its bases AUCG.

So, that means that whenever DNA has adenine, instead of pairing this with thymine, RNA will use uracil instead.

DNA → RNA

• adenine → uracil (A → U)
• thymine → adenine (T → A)
• cytosine → guanine (C → G)
• guanine → cytosine (G → C)

Giving us the corresponding sequence:

UAGGCUAA