News tagged with double helix
New molecule has potential to help treat genetic diseases and HIV
(PhysOrg.com) -- Chemists at The University of Texas at Austin have created a molecule that's so good at tangling itself inside the double helix of a DNA sequence that it can stay there for up to 16 days before ...
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Study shows how DNA finds its match
It's been more than 50 years since James Watson and Francis Crick showed that DNA is a double helix of two strands that complement each other. But how does a short piece of DNA find its match, out of the millions ...
Feb 08, 2012 |
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New take on impacts of low dose radiation
Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), through a combination of time-lapse live imaging and mathematical modeling of a special line of ...
Dec 20, 2011 |
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Study identifies mechanisms cells use to remove bits of RNA from DNA strands
When RNA component units called ribonucleotides become embedded in genomic DNA, which contains the complete genetic data for an organism, they can cause problems for cells. It is known that ribonucleotides ...
Dec 04, 2011 |
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Molecular corkscrew
Scientists from the universities of Zurich and Duisburg-Essen have discovered a specific function of the protein p97/VCP. They demonstrate that the protein repairs DNA breaks like a corkscrew, a repair mechanism that could ...
Nov 08, 2011 |
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Explosive composite based on nanoparticles and DNA could be an energy source for embedded microsystems
A solid explosive with an energy density equivalent to that of nitroglycerine: this is the composite material produced by researchers at the Laboratoire d'Analyse et d'Architecture des Systemes (CNRS) in Toulouse, France, ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 03, 2011 |
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Neutron scattering confirms DNA is as stretchy as nylon
(PhysOrg.com) -- Neutron scientists at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL, France) have measured how fast sound travels along DNA to determine its ‘stiffness’. These findings help to explain how DNA folds, coils and ...
Sep 08, 2011 |
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Proteins enable essential enzyme to maintain its grip on DNA
Scientists have identified a family of proteins that close a critical gap in an enzyme that is essential to all life, allowing the enzyme to maintain its grip on DNA and start the activation of genes.
Jul 21, 2011 |
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Mutations can spur dangerous identity crisis in cells
As our bodies first form, developing cells are a lot like children put on the school bus with their names and addresses pinned to their shirts.
Jul 01, 2011 |
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Using DNA in fight against illegal logging
Advances in DNA 'fingerprinting' and other genetic techniques led by Adelaide researchers are making it harder for illegal loggers to get away with destroying protected rainforests.
Jun 30, 2011 |
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DNA falls apart when you pull it
DNA falls apart when you pull it with a tiny force: the two strands that constitute a DNA molecule disconnect. Peter Gross of VU University Amsterdam has shown this in his PhD research project. With this research, ...
May 20, 2011 |
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Water molecules characterize the structure of DNA genetic material
Water molecules surround the genetic material DNA in a very specific way. German scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have discovered that, on the one hand, the texture of this hydration ...
Apr 26, 2011 |
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DNA nanoparticles to carry drugs and gene therapy
(PhysOrg.com) -- DNA isn't just for genetics anymore. Cornell researchers are using synthetic DNA to make nanoparticles, dubbed DNAsomes, that can deliver drugs and genetic therapy to the insides of cells.
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Apr 22, 2011 |
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Shedding light on the interaction between DNA and UVA radiation
Ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation is now known to cause skin cancers. The first information on the way in which UVA radiation acts directly on DNA has been revealed by a CNRS team from the Laboratoire Francis Perrin in collaboration ...
Mar 30, 2011 |
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Want to silence a gene? Pull here
(PhysOrg.com) -- Simply stretching DNA can silence a gene, scientists at the UA have discovered. The finding could point to a previously unknown gene control mechanism.
Mar 21, 2011 |
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Double helix
In geometry a double helix (plural helices) typically consists of two congruent helices with the same axis, differing by a translation along the axis, which may or may not be half-way.
The term "double helix" is commonly encountered in molecular biology, where it refers to the structure of DNA. The double-helix model of DNA structure was first published in the journal Nature by James D. Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, based upon the crucial X-ray diffraction image of DNA (labeled as "Photo 51") from Rosalind Franklin in 1952 , followed by her more clarified DNA image with Raymond Gosling, Maurice Wilkins, Alexander Stokes and Herbert Wilson, as well as base-pairing chemical and biochemical information by Erwin Chargaff.
Crick, Wilkins and Watson each received one third of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their contributions to the discovery. (Franklin, whose breakthrough X-ray diffraction data was used to formulate the DNA structure, died in 1958, and thus was ineligible to be nominated for a Nobel Prize.)
The DNA double helix is a right-handed spiral polymer of nucleic acids, held together by nucleotides which base pair together. A single turn of the helix constitutes ten nucleotides. The double helix structure of DNA contains a major groove and minor groove, the major groove being wider than the minor groove. Given the difference in widths of the major groove and minor groove, many proteins which bind to DNA do so through the wider major groove .
The order, or sequence, of the nucleotides in the double helix within a gene specifies the primary structure of a protein.
The term entered popular culture with the publication in 1968 of The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA, by James Watson.
For more information about Double helix, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
