Page 225 - The Manga Guide to Biochemistry
P. 225
This pairing configuration is called complementarity. Because of this comple-
mentarity, DNA can be replicated—in other words, the two-stranded poly
nucleotide chain can be separated into individual strands, and those strands
can be used as templates to build new strands. The result of this replication
is two DNA molecules that have the same arrangement of bases.
If T (thymine) is
the template, the
base that will join
the new strand is
A (adenine).
DNA
Icbtoawsmieplllsehemaqevuenettnahcreey.
A template is like the mold that you pour batter into to make cupcakes.
I get it! If you have a mold, they’re easy to replicate.
If you know what the sequence of the template strand is, you’ll know the
sequence of a new strand that uses that tempate as a mold!
That's right. The biggest difference between DNA and other biopolymers
(proteins, saccharides, and lipids) is that ability to replicate easily.
Molecular Biology and the Biochemistry of Nucleic Acids 211
