Chapter 24, Problem 6E

Summary Introduction

To estimate: The half-life of phosphodiester bond in DNA in years.

Concept introduction: The linkage that bounds the sugars molecules (in both DNA and RNA) present on the closest nucleotides is called as the phosphodiester bond. This usually covalently links between 3′ carbon atom of one sugar molecule and 5′ carbon atom of adjacent sugar molecule present in deoxyribose molecule (DNA) and ribose molecule (RNA). Half-life or half-time of a substance or a matter is the time taken for the decomposition of half of the substance that was present initially. The strong covalent bond of phosphodiester bond makes them difficult to decompose and more half-life period.