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Antiparallel (biochemistry)

 

 
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Antiparallel (biochemistry)
 
 
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In biochemistry, two molecules are antiparallel if they run side-by-side in opposite directions.

In DNA
DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetics instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses....
, the 5' carbon
Carbon

Carbon is a chemical element with chemical symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalence?making four electrons available to form covalent bond chemical bonds....
 is located at the top of the leading strand, and the 3' carbon is located at the lower section of the lagging strand. The nucleotide
Nucleotide

Nucleotides are molecules that comprise the structural units of RNA and DNA. Additionally, nucleotides play central roles in metabolism. In that capacity, they serve as sources of chemical energy , participate in cell signaling , and are incorporated into important cofactors of enzymatic reactions ....
s are similar and parallel, but they go in opposite directions, hence the antiparallel designation. The antiparallel structure of DNA is important in DNA replication
DNA replication

DNA replication, the basis for heredity, is a fundamental process occurring in all living organisms to copy their DNA. This process is "semiconservative replication" in that each strand of the original double-stranded DNA molecule serves as template for the reproduction of the complementary strand....
 because it unzips the leading strand one way and the lagging strand the other way.






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In biochemistry, two molecules are antiparallel if they run side-by-side in opposite directions.

In DNA
DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetics instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses....
, the 5' carbon
Carbon

Carbon is a chemical element with chemical symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalence?making four electrons available to form covalent bond chemical bonds....
 is located at the top of the leading strand, and the 3' carbon is located at the lower section of the lagging strand. The nucleotide
Nucleotide

Nucleotides are molecules that comprise the structural units of RNA and DNA. Additionally, nucleotides play central roles in metabolism. In that capacity, they serve as sources of chemical energy , participate in cell signaling , and are incorporated into important cofactors of enzymatic reactions ....
s are similar and parallel, but they go in opposite directions, hence the antiparallel designation. The antiparallel structure of DNA is important in DNA replication
DNA replication

DNA replication, the basis for heredity, is a fundamental process occurring in all living organisms to copy their DNA. This process is "semiconservative replication" in that each strand of the original double-stranded DNA molecule serves as template for the reproduction of the complementary strand....
 because it unzips the leading strand one way and the lagging strand the other way. During DNA replication the leading strand is replicated continuously whereas the lagging strand is replicated in segements known as Okazaki fragment
Okazaki fragment

An Okazaki fragment is a relatively short fragment of DNA created on the lagging strand during DNA replication. The lengths of Okazaki fragments are between 1,000 to 2,000 nucleotides long in E....
s.