Question

once they understood complementary base pairing, watson & crick were able to show how dna (a gene) ______. destroys itself replicates

Explanation:

Complementary base pairing (A-T, G-C) in DNA provides the mechanism for each strand to act as a template for a new complementary strand, which is the basis of DNA replication. Watson and Crick used this pairing to explain how DNA copies itself.

Answer:

replicates