What is palindromic DNA and why isn't every complementary strand palindromic?
I know AGCT is palindromic, but what is an example of a strand that isn't?
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Sign up to join this communityWhat is palindromic DNA and why isn't every complementary strand palindromic?
I know AGCT is palindromic, but what is an example of a strand that isn't?
A palindromic stretch of DNA is a strand whose reverse complement is itself. So 5'-AAAT-3'
is not palindromic. It's reverse complement is 5'-ATTT-3'
. Those two pieces of DNA are not identical. However, 5'-GGATCC-3'
is palindromic, because the reverse complement is identical.
It has nothing to do with the complementarity (of the other strand).
Try this to figure out whether some sequences are palindromic:
#!/usr/bin/env python3
def is_palindromic(seq):
translation_table = str.maketrans('ACGT', 'TGCA')
translation = seq.translate(translation_table)
#print(seq, translation[::-1])
return seq == translation[::-1]
is_palindromic('GATTACA')