Question

Hypoxanthine can also base-pair with cytosine. Draw the structure of this base pair.

Short answer

The structure obtained when hypoxanthine base pairs with cytosine is,

Step-by-step solution

Introduction

F.C. Crick suggested the theory in the year 1996. According to this theory, wobble base pair is the hydrogen-bonded base pairing that occurs between the nucleotides in the molecule of RNA and it does not follow the regulations of Watson-Crick base pair theory.

Wobble base pairs are more common in transfer ribonucleic acids (tRNAs), and they play a key role in codon-anticodon interactions. In the four wobble base pairs, hypoxanthine-adenine is one of the most important.

Base pair structure of hypoxanthine with cytosine

It demonstrates that the oxygen (O) atom of hypoxanthinehas coupled with one of the hydrogen (H) groups in the ammonia (NH₂) group ofcytosineand this is linked to hypoxanthine nitrogen (N) bound with N in cytosine.

Pictorial representation of Base pair structure of hypoxanthine with cytosine

Interpretation

Thus, in a base pair structure, hypoxanthine is linked to nitrogen in the cytosine.