You and a friend want to split a double-stranded DNA molecule so you each have half. Is it better to cut the length of DNA in half so each person has a shorter length, or to separate the strands and each take one strand? Explain.

Answer: Separate the strands

Explanation:

The function of DNA is to contain the hereditary genetic information of the cell, by which proteins are synthesized and organisms develop. DNA is made up of monomers called nucleotides. They combine to form a polynucleotide, in this case DNA. Each nucleotide contains three main elements:

Nitrogen bases: These are organic molecules containing carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen. Four nitrogenous bases can be distinguished. These are adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T). Pentosa: It is a five-carbon sugar that in the case of DNA is known as deoxyribose. Phosphate groups: The phosphate in the DNA establishes bonds or "bridges" between the pentoses.

DNA strands run in opposite directions and this is known as antiparallel orientation. The nitrogenous bases of one strand bind to the bases of the opposite strand forming base pairs. The base pairs are established between adenine and thymine, or guanine and cytosine. This is known as the base complementarity rule. According to the base sequence of one of the DNA strands (called the coding strand), a certain protein will be synthesized. The complementary (non-coding) strand will then have the complementary bases. By separating the two chains, each one will have exactly half of the genetic information and also adequate information to know the proteins that can be synthesized.