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Molecular biology

DNA twists and flips

Nature volume 437, pages 1097–1098 (2005)Cite this article

DNA can shape itself into many forms to achieve its purposes in life. The crystal structure of the junction between two of its forms provides insight into how DNA might accomplish some of these acrobatics.

Crick and Watson's famous structure of DNA has become an icon of our age, somewhat eclipsing DNA's other structural forms. Imagine unravelling the familiar helix (termed B-DNA) and then twisting it up the other way around. The result — Z-DNA — is not so visually appealing, and not so stable, but it has some intriguing biology.

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Figure 1: A new twist.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of DNA Structure and Mutagenesis, Center for Genome Research, Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, 2121 West Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, 77030-3303, Texas, USA

    Richard R. Sinden

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  1. Richard R. Sinden
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Sinden, R. DNA twists and flips. Nature 437, 1097–1098 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/4371097a

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