The error rate of changing an incorrect base with another incorrect base during proofreading is one in _______ bases.
A) 10
B) 100
C) 1,000
D) 10,000
E) 1,000,000

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The error rate of changing an incorrect base with another incorrect base during proofreading is referred to as "second-site reversion." The probability of this occurring is dependent on the size of the genome being proofread. For example, in the simplest case of a single nucleotide base pair, the error rate would be 1 in 100 (or 1 in 10x10). However, for larger genomes, such as bacterial genomes which can contain millions of base pairs, the error rate increases to 1 in 10,000 (or 1 in 100x100). Therefore, option D, 10,000 bases, is the best choice for this question.

The Error Rate of Changing an Incorrect Base with Another