Double helix

Double Helix

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Double helix

In geometry

Geometry

Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers....
a double helix (plural helices) typically consists of two congruent

Congruence (geometry)

In geometry, two sets of point are called congruent if one can be transformed into the other by an isometry, i.e., a combination of translation s, rotations and reflection s....
helices

Helix

A helix is a special kind of space curve, i.e. a Differentiable manifold curve in three-space. As a mental image of a helix one may take the spring ....
with the same axis, differing by a translation

Translation (physics)

In physics, translation is movement that changes the displacement of an object, as opposed to rotation. For example, according to Whittaker:...
along the axis, which may or may not be half-way.

In molecular biology

Molecular biology

Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecule level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry....
, the double helix refers to the structure of 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....
.

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Encyclopedia

In geometry

Geometry

Congruence (geometry)

In geometry, two sets of point are called congruent if one can be transformed into the other by an isometry, i.e., a combination of translation s, rotations and reflection s....
helices

Helix

Translation (physics)

Molecular biology

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 structure of 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....
was first published in the journal Nature

Nature (journal)

Nature is a prominent scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869. Although most scientific journals are now highly specialized, Nature is one of the few journals, along with other weekly journals such as Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that still publishes original research articles ac...
by James D. Watson

James D. Watson

James Dewey Watson is an American molecular biology, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA. Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer...
and Francis Crick

Francis Crick

Francis Harry Compton Crick Order of Merit Royal Society , Ph.D., was a British molecular biology, physics, and neuroscience, and most noted for being one of the co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953....
in 1953, based upon data from Maurice Wilkins

Maurice Wilkins

Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins Order of the British Empire Royal Society was a New Zealand-born UKmolecular biology, and Nobel Laureate who contributed research in the fields of phosphorescence, radar, isotope separation, and X-ray diffraction....
and Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Elsie Franklin was an English people biophysicist and X-ray crystallography who made important contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA, viruses, coal and graphite....
. Crick, Wilkins and Watson each received the Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
for their contributions to the discovery. Franklin died before her contribution could be acknowledged, and because they cannot be awarded posthumously, never received 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

DNA sequence

A DNA sequence or genetic sequence is a succession of letters representing the primary structure of a real or hypothetical DNA molecule or strand, with the capacity to carry information as described by the central dogma of molecular biology....
, of the nucleotides in the double helix within a gene

Gene

A gene is the basic unit of heredity in a living organism. All living things depend on genes. Genes hold the information to build and maintain their cell and pass genetic trait to offspring....
specifies the primary structure

Primary structure

In biochemistry, the primary structure of a biological molecule is the exact specification of its atomic composition and the chemical bonds connecting those atoms ....
of a protein

Protein

Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid Residue ....
.

Double helix

See also