What is a sense strand (or coding strand)?

Posted June 22, 2020

Answer

A sense strand, or coding strand, is the DNA strand within double-stranded DNA that carries the translatable code in the 5’ to 3’ direction. Its complementary strand is called antisense strand, which does not carry the translatable code and serves as template during transcription. The sense strand of DNA has the same sequence as the mRNA that contains the codon sequences to build proteins, except that thymine, instead of uracil, takes its place in the sense strand of DNA.

Additional resources

6-ROX glycine *25 uM fluorescence reference solution for PCR reactions*

Chen, S. C., Halliday, C. L., & Meyer, W. (2002). A review of nucleic acid-based diagnostic tests for systemic mycoses with an emphasis on polymerase chain reaction-based assays. Medical mycology, 40(4), 333-357.

Chuang, L. Y., Cheng, Y. H., & Yang, C. H. (2013). Specific primer design for the polymerase chain reaction. Biotechnology letters, 35(10), 1541-1549.