A tool used in molecular biology determines the percentage of guanine and cytosine bases within a DNA or RNA sequence. For example, a sequence with 20 guanine, 20 cytosine, and 60 other bases has a percentage of 40%. This percentage is often crucial for understanding the physical and chemical properties of nucleic acids.
This analysis is essential for various applications, including designing PCR primers, predicting melting temperatures of DNA, and understanding genome stability. Historically, this percentage has been correlated with genome organization and species evolution, adding another layer of understanding to the field of genomics. Understanding the relative abundance of these bases provides valuable insight into gene structure, function, and overall genomic characteristics.