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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 ...
A covalently closed, circular DNA (also known as cccDNA) is topologically constrained as the number of times the chains coiled around one other cannot change. This cccDNA can be supercoiled, which is the tertiary structure of DNA. Supercoiling is characterized by the linking number, twist and writhe.
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 ...
DNA can be twisted like a rope in a process called DNA supercoiling. With DNA in its "relaxed" state, a strand usually circles the axis of the double helix once every 10.4 base pairs, but if the DNA is twisted the strands become more tightly or more loosely wound. [43]
Reverse gyrase is a type I topoisomerase that introduces positive supercoils into DNA, [1] contrary to the typical negative supercoils introduced by the type II topoisomerase DNA gyrase. These positive supercoils can be introduced to DNA that is either negatively supercoiled or fully relaxed. [2] Where DNA gyrase forms a tetramer and is capable ...
The solenoid structure can increase this to be 40 times smaller. [2] When DNA is compacted into the solenoid structure can still be transcriptionally active in certain areas. [7] It is the secondary chromatin structure that is important for this transcriptional repression as in vivo active genes are assembled in large tertiary chromatin ...
The double helix is the dominant tertiary structure for biological DNA, and is also a possible structure for RNA. Three DNA conformations are believed to be found in nature, A-DNA, B-DNA, and Z-DNA. The "B" form described by James D. Watson and Francis Crick is believed to predominate in cells. [2]
A plectonemic structure arises from the interwinding of the helical axis. Toroidal supercoils originate when DNA forms several spirals, around an axis and not intersecting with each other, like those in a telephone cord. [93] The writhes in the plectonemes form are right- and left-handed in positively or negatively supercoiled DNA, respectively.