Question

Which property of dna double helix lead watson and crick to hypothesise the semi conservative mode of replication?

Answer 1

they observed that the two strands are complementary and opposite to each other

Answer 2

Answer:

• Watson and Crick observed that the two strands of DNA are anti-parallel and complementary to each other with respect to their base sequences.
• This type of arrangement in DNA molecule led to the hypothesis that DNA replication is semi-conservative.
• It means that the double stranded DNA molecule separates and then, each of the separated strand acts as a template for the synthesis of a new complementary strand.
• As a result, each DNA molecule would have one parental strand and a newly synthesized daughter strand.
• Since only one parental strand is conserved in each daughter molecule, it is known as semi-conservative mode of replication.