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The separation of the two linked daughter DNA strands during replication either required DNA to have a net-zero helical twist, or for the strands to be cut, crossed, and rejoined. It was this apparent contradictions that early non-helical models attempted to address until the discovery of topoisomerases in 1970 resolved the problem.
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 ...
Z-DNA is one of the many possible double helical structures of DNA. It is a left-handed double helical structure in which the helix winds to the left in a zigzag pattern, instead of to the right, like the more common B-DNA form. Z-DNA is thought to be one of three biologically active double-helical structures along with A-DNA and B-DNA.
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.
Ten years after James Watson and Francis Crick published their model of the DNA double helix, [2] Karst Hoogsteen reported [3] a crystal structure of a complex in which analogues of A and T formed a base pair that had a different geometry from that described by Watson and Crick. Similarly, an alternative base-pairing geometry can occur for G ...
The monosaccharides (carbohydrate-units) are commonly found in D-configuration. DNA double helix is chiral (as any kind of helix is chiral), and B-form of DNA shows a right-handed turn. Sometimes, when two enantiomers of a compound are found in organisms, they significantly differ in their taste, smell and other biological actions.
Z-DNA is a relatively rare left-handed double-helix. Given the proper sequence and superhelical tension, it can be formed in vivo but its function is unclear. It has a more narrow, more elongated helix than A or B. Z-DNA's major groove is not really a groove, and it has a narrow minor groove.
From the DNA double helix model, it was clear that there must be some correspondence between the linear sequences of nucleotides in DNA molecules to the linear sequences of amino acids in proteins. The details of how sequences of DNA instruct cells to make specific proteins was worked out by molecular biologists during the period from 1953 to 1965.