For many chemical reactions in the laboratory, a percent yield of the correct product of 95% is considered very good. Many biochemical reactions, however, require a much greater percent yield of the correct product.
(a) Assume that there is a process that replicates DNA with only 95% accuracy for each nucleotide added and that we wish to make complementary copies of identical strands of DNA 10 nucleotides long. What fraction of the molecules produced would have the correct sequence of nucleotides?
(b) Many naturally occurring DNA polymerases, enzymes that catalyze the replication of DNA, have an accuracy much greater, often being 99.999999% accurate. If an enzyme with this accuracy constructed a 10-nucleotide sequence of DNA, what fraction of the molecules would have the correct sequence?