Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ws8qp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T11:42:06.953Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - DNA

The Molecule

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2022

Andrew Travers
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

Today the feature of DNA that defines the molecule is the fact that the two strands are entwined as a right-handed double helix. In common parlance, DNA is ‘the double helix’. While this double-helical character is not required by the base complementarity per se – a simple straight ladder structure would fulfill this function just as well – it does impart crucial physical and chemical properties to the polymer. It is these properties that play a major role in the biological function of DNA. The genetic functions of DNA can thus be understood as the synergism of two properties – a tape containing the information store encoding the sequences of proteins and RNA molecules and a polymer existing as double-helical string enabling the packaging, accessibility and replication of the information store. Crucially not only the coding of proteins and RNA molecules but also the physicochemical properties of the polymer are specified by the base sequence.

Type
Chapter
Information
Why DNA?
From DNA Sequence to Biological Complexity
, pp. 53 - 92
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • DNA
  • Andrew Travers, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Why DNA?
  • Online publication: 05 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107297241.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • DNA
  • Andrew Travers, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Why DNA?
  • Online publication: 05 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107297241.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • DNA
  • Andrew Travers, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Why DNA?
  • Online publication: 05 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107297241.004
Available formats
×