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Chargaff's Rules

Chargaff's Rules are fundamental principles that highlight the chemical composition of DNA. They state that within a DNA molecule, the amount of adenine (A) always equals thymine (T), and the amount of cytosine (C) always equals guanine (G). This means that the bases pair specifically—A with T and C with G—forming the rungs of the DNA ladder. These pairings are crucial for the accurate replication of DNA during cell division and are foundational to our understanding of genetic inheritance. These rules contributed to revealing the double-helix structure of DNA by Watson and Crick.

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    Chargaff's rules are key principles in molecular biology that describe the composition of DNA. They state that in any DNA molecule, the amount of adenine (A) is always equal to thymine (T), and the amount of cytosine (C) is always equal to guanine (G). This means that A pairs with T, and C pairs with G, which is crucial for DNA structure and replication. These pairings ensure the stability of the DNA double helix and are fundamental to the mechanism of genetic inheritance.