VNTR belongs to a class known as:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Mini-satellite DNA
VNTR (Variable Number of Tandem Repeats) is a short DNA sequence repeated one after another many times. The number of repeats differs from person to person, which is why it is used as a probe in DNA fingerprinting.
(1) Mini-satellite DNA — Correct. VNTR belongs to satellite DNA, in the class called mini-satellites. Satellite DNA is repetitive DNA that forms small peaks, separate from the bulk DNA, in density gradient centrifugation.
(2) Heterogeneous nuclear RNA — Incorrect. hnRNA is the precursor of mRNA made by RNA polymerase II. It is RNA, not DNA.
(3) Nucleosome — Incorrect. A nucleosome is DNA wrapped around a histone octamer. It is a unit of packaging, not a class of DNA sequence.
(4) Centromere — Incorrect. The centromere is the region of a chromosome that holds the two chromatids together.
NCERT Extract:
DNA Fingerprinting – …
