PencilGo

Grade 9 · Science · Biology

9th grade The structure of DNA worksheet

6 printable versionsOn Level10 questions · answer keyFree · no account

Level: Building Confidence · On Level · Challenge Me

When it’s done, scan the sheet with your phone and PencilGo marks it and picks the next one. Create a free account

Version
Print

The structure of DNA

Grade 9 Science Worksheet

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

  1. Bottom strand directly beneath it: six bases, ends not labeled. Luz writes the bottom strand under 3′-TACGGA-5′. Which choice gives the bottom strand, read from its own 5′ end?

    • 5′-TCCGTA-3′
    • 5′-CGTAAG-3′
    • 5′-ATGCCT-3′
    • 5′-TACGGA-3′
  2. Read this first

    Use this

    Ladder (model, not to scale).

  3. Milo writes the bottom strand under 5′-GATCCG-3′, left to right as it sits beneath. Which choice is correct, with its end labels?

    • 5′-CTAGGC-3′
    • 3′-AGCTTA-5′
    • 3′-CTAGGC-5′
    • 3′-GATCCG-5′
  4. Pia completes the bottom strand under 3′-ATGGCA-5′. Which letters fill the blanks, left to right?

    • C, A, G
    • A, G, T
    • A, C, T
    • T, C, A
  5. Ladder (model, not to scale). Bottom strand directly beneath: five bases, to find. Zee counts the hydrogen bonds in a short stretch whose top strand is 3′-GATTC-5′. How many hydrogen bonds join the five base pairs?

    • 10
    • 12
    • 13
    • 15
  6. (model, not to scale). Ari studies one nucleotide of the top strand. Arrow Y points to the part that faces the other strand. What is Y?

    • The phosphate, which links to the other strand
    • The base, which pairs with a base on the other strand
    • The sugar, which links to the other strand
    • The hydrogen bond, which is a part of each single nucleotide
  7. Tala compares two stretches of DNA with the same number of base pairs. Which stretch has more hydrogen bonds, and why?

    • Stretch N, because C–G pairs are the smaller pairs
    • Stretch M, because A–T pairs have 3 bonds each
    • Stretch N, because it has more C–G pairs, with 3 bonds each
    • Neither, because both stretches have 5 base pairs
  8. Use this

    Model data card, percent of the bases in a two-stranded sample. A: 28. T: ?. G: ?. C: ?. Total: 100.

  9. Bo reads a model sample of two-stranded DNA. Adenine is 28% of the bases. What percent of the bases is guanine?

    • 22%
    • 28%
    • 36%
    • 44%
  10. Model data card, number of bases in a two-stranded sample. A: 240. T: ?. G: ?. C: ?. Total: 1,000. Jun counts the bases in a model sample of two-stranded DNA with 1,000 bases. Adenine is 240 of them. How many bases are cytosine?

    • 260
    • 380
    • 240
    • 520
  11. Sketch by a classmate (model, not to scale). Noah sketches DNA with the bases on the two outer lines and the sugar-phosphate chains as the crosspieces. What should change?

    • Add a third strand in the middle to hold the sketch together
    • Swap them: the chains form the outer lines and the bases meet in the middle
    • Nothing: the bases must be on the outside to reach each other
    • Pair each A with G and each C with T, to keep the width even
  12. Use this

    Who-did-what card (real facts from OpenStax Biology 2e and NIH NLM). Columns: person, place, work. Rosalind Franklin with Raymond Gosling, King's College London, X-ray photo of the B form of DNA in 1952, labeled 51. James Watson and Francis Crick, University of Cambridge, built the double-helix model in 1953 using Franklin's X-ray data.

  13. Esme says Watson and Crick took the X-ray photo labeled 51. Using the card, which reply is best?

    • Not correct: Franklin joined the work after the 1953 model
    • Not correct: Franklin and Gosling made the photo, and the model used it
    • Not correct: the photo was made in 1962, after the prize
    • Correct: Watson and Crick took it at Cambridge in 1952
PencilGopencilgo.com

9th grade The structure of DNA worksheet – printable
Print: 123456

About this worksheet

The structure of DNA: nucleotides, base pairs and the double helix. Every version has 10 questions, and the answer key prints on the second page.

What your child will learn

  • I can say a nucleotide has three parts, a five-carbon sugar (deoxyribose in DNA), a phosphate group and a nitrogen-containing base, and point to one on a drawing.
  • I can say the sugar-phosphate backbone forms the two outer rails, and the bases stack inside, facing the other strand.
  • I can name the four bases (A, T, G, C), say that A and G are purines with a double ring and C and T are pyrimidines with a single ring, and say why every rung joins one of each.
  • I can write the partner of a strand: A with T and C with G.
  • I can say that A–T pairs are held by 2 hydrogen bonds and C–G pairs by 3, and count the bonds in a stretch.
  • I can say the two strands run in opposite directions (antiparallel), so the 5′ end of one lies against the 3′ end of the other, and write a partner strand from its own 5′ end.

Standard: HS-LS1-1, HS-LS3-1

Words to know

nucleotide: One unit of DNA: a sugar, a phosphate and a base

deoxyribose: The five-carbon sugar in DNA

phosphate: The part of a nucleotide that links to the sugar of the next one

base: The lettered part of a nucleotide: A, T, G or C

sugar-phosphate backbone: The outer rail of a strand, made of sugars and phosphates

purine: A base with a double ring: A or G

pyrimidine: A base with a single ring: C or T

base pair: Two bases, one from each strand, joined by hydrogen bonds

Common mistakes

Your child paired a base with the wrong partner. In DNA, A pairs with T and C pairs with G, so a double-ring base always meets a single-ring base. Ask your child to say each pair aloud before choosing.

Your child put the bases on the outside of the ladder. The sugar-phosphate backbone forms the two outer rails, and the bases meet in the middle. Ask your child which part forms the rails.

Your child thought the two strands of DNA run in the same direction. They run in opposite directions, so the 5′ end of one faces the 3′ end of the other. Ask your child to mark the ends on both strands.

Questions parents ask

What is the most common mistake with the structure of dna?

Your child paired a base with the wrong partner. In DNA, A pairs with T and C pairs with G, so a double-ring base always meets a single-ring base. Ask your child to say each pair aloud before choosing.

Are these 9th grade science worksheets free to print?

Yes. All 6 printable versions at each level are free to print, with the answer key, and no account is needed.

More biology

See all Biology

Every sheet you scan goes into your child’s record: dated, marked and ready for the year-end portfolio. Homeschool records