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Representing the reverse strand

Representing the reverse strand - read and complete
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© Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses and Scientific Conferences
In this article, you will learn more about the reverse strand of DNA and its representation.

Based on what we have learned so far about conventions, what would be the correct way of representing the reverse strand of the sequence ATGCATGC?

Remember that nucleotide sequences are always written in their 5’->3’ orientation!

ANSWER: The reverse strand (and reverse complement of ATGCATGC) represented is:

5’-GCATGCAT-3’ 

To arrive to the answer, you can follow these steps:

  1. Write down the sequence in a piece of paper/or on your screen
  2. Write the complement base (a T for every A, a G for every C and vice versa) under each letter.
  3. Take the second line, and reverse the order.

© Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses and Scientific Conferences
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