Math shows how DNA twists, turns and unzips

If you've ever seen a picture of a DNA molecule, you probably saw it in its famous B-form: two strands coiling around each other in a right-handed fashion to form a double helix. But did you know that DNA can change its shape?

The changing shape of DNA

The shape of DNA can be changed with a range of triggers including copper and oxygen—according to new research from the University of East Anglia.

The convoluted history of the double-helix

It's been 65 years since the paper "Molecular structure of nucleic acids," by James Watson and Francis Crick, was published in Nature. Or, more prosaically, the paper that first describes the structure of DNA as we know it ...

Scientists have tracked down an elusive 'tangled knot' of DNA

It's DNA, but not as we know it. In a world first, Australian researchers have identified a new DNA structure—called the i-motif—inside cells. A twisted 'knot' of DNA, the i-motif has never before been directly seen inside ...

Biomimetic chemistry—DNA mimic outwits viral enzyme

Not only can synthetic molecules mimic the structures of their biological models, they can also take on their functions and may even successfully compete with them, as an artificial DNA sequence designed by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet ...

A mutational timer is built into the chemistry of DNA

If you had to copy billions of letters from one sheet of paper to another, you'd probably make a few mistakes. So it might not come as a surprise that when DNA makes a copy of its three-billion-base genetic code, it can slip ...

page 4 from 16