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Nucleic acid double helix

"Double helix" redirects here. For other uses, see Double helix (disambiguation).

Two complementary regions of nucleic acid molecules will bind and form a double helical structure held together by base pairs.

In molecular biology, the term double helix[1] refers to the structure formed by double-stranded molecules of nucleic acids such as DNA. The double helical structure of a nucleic acid complex arises as a consequence of its secondary structure, and is a fundamental component in determining its tertiary structure. The structure was discovered by Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin, her student Raymond Gosling, James Watson, and Francis Crick,[2] while the term "double helix" entered popular culture with the 1968 publication of Watson's The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA.

The DNA double helix biopolymer of nucleic acid is held together by nucleotides which base pair together.[3] In B-DNA, the most common double helical structure found in nature, the double helix is right-handed with about 10–10.5 base pairs per turn.[4] The double helix structure of DNA contains a major groove and minor groove. In B-DNA the major groove is wider than the minor groove.[3] Given the difference in widths of the major groove and minor groove, many proteins which bind to B-DNA do so through the wider major groove.[5]

  1. ^ Kabai S (2007). "Double Helix". The Wolfram Demonstrations Project.
  2. ^ Cobb M, Comfort N (April 2023). "What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA's structure". Nature. 616 (7958): 657–660. Bibcode:2023Natur.616..657C. doi:10.1038/d41586-023-01313-5. PMID 37100935.
  3. ^ a b Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Raff M, Roberts K, Walter P (1994). The Molecular Biology of the Cell (3rd ed.). New York: Garland Science. ISBN 978-0-8153-4105-5.
  4. ^ Wang JC (January 1979). "Helical repeat of DNA in solution". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 76 (1): 200–203. Bibcode:1979PNAS...76..200W. doi:10.1073/pnas.76.1.200. PMC 382905. PMID 284332.
  5. ^ Pabo CO, Sauer RT (1984). "Protein-DNA recognition". Annual Review of Biochemistry. 53: 293–321. doi:10.1146/annurev.bi.53.070184.001453. PMID 6236744.

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