Question

Suppose a labmate bets you a candybar that you can’t find uracil in chromosomes extracted from rapidly dividing E. coli cells. If you take the bet and find uracil, you get the sweet treat. If you say one can’t find uracil, the labmate will owe you a candybar if he can’t find uracil in extracted chromosomes. Which way do you bet (find uracil? won’t find uracil?) and why will you be satisfying your sweet tooth later on?

Answer 1

I will definitely put a bet that I could find uracil because, there is a high probability of finding uracil from rapidly dividing E.coli cells because there is no strict proofreading operation or DNA repair system in prokaryotes as compared to eukaryotes and because of the limited life span of E.coli chromosomes that integrate uracil once a time. And there is a high probability that uracil would be present in the rapidly dividing E.coli cells. I will therefore put a bet that I will find uracil in chromosome of E.coli.