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The double-helix model of DNA structure was first published in the journal Nature by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, [6] (X,Y,Z coordinates in 1954 [7]) based on the work of Rosalind Franklin and her student Raymond Gosling, who took the crucial X-ray diffraction image of DNA labeled as "Photo 51", [8] [9] and Maurice Wilkins, Alexander Stokes, and Herbert Wilson, [10] and base-pairing ...
The two strands of DNA in a double helix can thus be pulled apart like a zipper, either by a mechanical force or high temperature. [27] As a result of this base pair complementarity, all the information in the double-stranded sequence of a DNA helix is duplicated on each strand, which is vital in DNA replication.
Secondary structure is the set of interactions between bases, i.e., which parts of strands are bound to each other. In DNA double helix, the two strands of DNA are held together by hydrogen bonds. The nucleotides on one strand base pairs with the nucleotide on the other strand. The secondary structure is responsible for the shape that the ...
The twist is the number of helical turns in the DNA and the writhe is the number of times the double helix crosses over on itself (these are the supercoils). Extra helical twists are positive and lead to positive supercoiling, while subtractive twisting causes negative supercoiling.
The double helix makes one complete turn about its axis every 10.4–10.5 base pairs in solution. This frequency of twist (known as the helical pitch) depends largely on stacking forces that each base exerts on its neighbours in the chain. Double-helical RNA adopts a conformation similar to the A-form structure.
The DNA model shown (far right) is a space-filling, or CPK, model of the DNA double helix. Animated molecular models, such as the wire, or skeletal, type shown at the top of this article, allow one to visually explore the three-dimensional (3D) structure of DNA. Another type of DNA model is the space-filling, or CPK, model.
The Path to The Double Helix: Discovery of DNA. MacMillan. ISBN 978-0-486-68117-7. (with foreword by Francis Crick; revised in 1994, with a 9-page postscript.) Watson, James D. (1980). The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA. Atheneum. ISBN 978-0-689-70602-8. (first published in 1968) Wilkins, Maurice (2003).
The replication fork is a structure that forms within the long helical DNA during DNA replication. It is produced by enzymes called helicases that break the hydrogen bonds that hold the DNA strands together in a helix. The resulting structure has two branching "prongs", each one made up of a single strand of DNA.