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Supercoiled structure of linear DNA molecules with constrained ends. The helical nature of the DNA duplex is omitted for clarity. DNA supercoiling refers to the amount of twist in a particular DNA strand, which determines the amount of strain on it. A given strand may be "positively supercoiled" or "negatively supercoiled" (more or less tightly ...
After introducing a nick in the system, the negative supercoil gradually unwinds (c) until it reaches its final, circular, plasmid state (d). [2] Nicked DNA can be the result of DNA damage or purposeful, regulated biomolecular reactions carried out in the cell. During processing, DNA can be nicked by physical shearing, over-drying, or enzymes.
DNA in cells is negatively supercoiled and has the tendency to unwind. Hence the separation of strands is easier in negatively supercoiled DNA than in relaxed DNA. The two components of supercoiled DNA are solenoid and plectonemic. The plectonemic supercoil is found in prokaryotes, while the solenoidal supercoiling is mostly seen in eukaryotes.
A plasmid is a small, extrachromosomal DNA molecule within a cell that is physically separated from chromosomal DNA and can replicate independently. They are most commonly found as small circular, double-stranded DNA molecules in bacteria ; however, plasmids are sometimes present in archaea and eukaryotic organisms .
Ropes have superhelical structures An illustration showing the superhelical structure of chromatin. A superhelix is a molecular structure in which a helix is itself coiled into a helix. This is significant to both proteins and genetic material, such as overwound circular DNA.
The chemical structure of DNA is insufficient to understand the complexity of the 3D structures of DNA. In contrast, animated molecular models allow one to visually explore the three-dimensional (3D) structure of DNA. The DNA model shown (far right) is a space-filling, or CPK, model of the DNA double helix. Animated molecular models, such as ...
In a normal plasmid DNA preparation, multiple forms of DNA may be present. [13] Gel electrophoresis of the plasmids would normally show the negatively supercoiled form as the main band, while nicked DNA (open circular form) and the relaxed closed circular form appears as minor bands.
For example, plasmid replication requires negative supercoiling of the origin, which facilitates local melting and exposes single-stranded DNA required to initiate replication. Similarly, initiation of replication from the main bacterial origin oriC also requires negative supercoiling.