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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 .
DNA exists as a double-stranded structure, with both strands coiled together to form the characteristic double helix. Each single strand of DNA is a chain of four types of nucleotides. Nucleotides in DNA contain a deoxyribose sugar, a phosphate, and a nucleobase.
Here, the single-stranded DNA curls around in a long circle stabilized by telomere-binding proteins. [68] At the very end of the T-loop, the single-stranded telomere DNA is held onto a region of double-stranded DNA by the telomere strand disrupting the double-helical DNA and base pairing to one of the two strands.
In most cases, naturally occurring DNA molecules are double-stranded and RNA molecules are single-stranded. [19] There are numerous exceptions, however—some viruses have genomes made of double-stranded RNA and other viruses have single-stranded DNA genomes, [20] and, in some circumstances, nucleic acid structures with three or four strands ...
Complementarity between two antiparallel strands of DNA. The top strand goes from the left to the right and the lower strand goes from the right to the left lining them up. Left: the nucleotide base pairs that can form in double-stranded DNA. Between A and T there are two hydrogen bonds, while there are three between C and G.
The simplest DNA end of a double stranded molecule is called a blunt end. Blunt ends are also known as non-cohesive ends. In a blunt-ended molecule, both strands terminate in a base pair. Blunt ends are not always desired in biotechnology since when using a DNA ligase to join two molecules into one, the yield is significantly lower with blunt ...
During replication the DNA strands separate. In single stranded DNA, cytosine spontaneously slowly deaminates to adenosine (a C to A transversion). The longer the strands are separated the greater the quantity of deamination. For reasons that are not yet clear the strands tend to exist longer in single form in mitochondria than in chromosomal DNA.
The tertiary arrangement of DNA's double helix in space includes B-DNA, A-DNA, and Z-DNA. Triple-stranded DNA structures have been demonstrated in repetitive polypurine:polypyrimidine Microsatellite sequences and Satellite DNA. B-DNA is the most common form of DNA in vivo and is a more narrow, elongated helix than A-DNA. Its wide major groove ...