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A patient has a microcytic, hypochromic anemia. In order to ascertain the cause of the anemia, the patient ’ s hemoglobin was isolated, and it was determined that there was much more β -chain present than α -chain, indicating an α -thalassemia. To determine the genetic basis of the thalassemia, nucleic acids were isolated from the blood of the patient. During the procedure of isolating the nucleic acids, both heat and alkali treatment were required. The alkali and heat were included owing to which ONE of the following?
A.
Alkali causes the two strands of DNA and RNA to separate.
B.
Heat causes the two strands of DNA and RNA to separate.
C.
Alkali cleaves the phosphodiester bonds of DNA and RNA, degrading them to nucleotides.
D.
Alkali separates the strands of DNA and degrades RNA to nucleotides.
E.
Alkali separates the strands of RNA and degrades DNA to nucleotides.