In a eukaryotic cell with three chromosomes, how many 5' ends would be present?

To understand the number of 5' ends in a eukaryotic cell with three chromosomes, it's important to first recognize the structure of eukaryotic DNA. Each chromosome in a eukaryotic cell is composed of linear DNA molecules that typically exist in a double-stranded form.

For each chromosome, there are two strands of DNA, and each strand has one 5' end. Therefore, if there are three chromosomes, each with two strands, the total number of 5' ends can be calculated as follows:

• Each of the three chromosomes contributes two 5' ends (one from each strand).
• This results in 3 chromosomes x 2 5' ends per chromosome, equaling a total of 6 5' ends.

The correct answer reflects this calculation, demonstrating that in a eukaryotic cell with three chromosomes, there are indeed six distinct 5' ends due to the presence of double-stranded DNA structure in each chromosome.