Ten E. coli cells with N - dsDNA are incubated in medium containing N nucleotide. After 60 minutes, how many E. coli cells will have DNA totally free from N ?
- A
20 cells
- B
40 cells
- C
60 cells
- D
80 cells
E. coli typically divides every 20 minutes, so in 60 minutes there are three rounds of replication. Starting from 10 cells, the population grows: cells.
After the first division (20 min), each daughter cell contains one heavy (N) strand and one light (N) strand. All 20 cells are hybrid.
At each subsequent division, only the cells containing a heavy strand can pass it on; the cells with two light strands remain heavy-free. The number of cells that contain at least one heavy strand stays at 20 throughout subsequent divisions.
So after 60 minutes (80 cells total), cells have DNA totally free from N.
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