What term describes a sequence of nucleic acids that reads the same 5' to 3' on complementary strands?

The term that describes a sequence of nucleic acids that reads the same 5' to 3' on complementary strands is "palindromic." In this context, palindrome refers to a sequence that is identical when read in the 5' to 3' direction on one strand and also reads identically in the 5' to 3' direction on the complementary strand. This means that, for example, if one strand has the sequence "GAATTC," the complementary strand will also read "GAATTC" in the 5' to 3' direction, making the overall configuration palindromic.

Palindromic sequences are significant in molecular biology, particularly in the recognition sites of restriction enzymes, where the enzyme binds to these palindromic sequences to cut DNA at specific locations. This property also plays a role in the formation of secondary structures in nucleic acids, such as hairpins.

The other options do not accurately describe this specific feature. "Antisense" refers to a strand of nucleic acid that is complementary to the sense strand and usually does not imply palindromic characteristics. "Transcriptional" relates to the process of synthesizing RNA from DNA, and "polymeric"