The double-stranded DNA that results from this pattern of bonding looks much like a ladder with sugar-phosphate side supports and base-pair rungs.

DNA is fundamental to the biology of all life on Earth, but how many of us actually know what it is or what it's made of?

Fifty-nine years after James Watson and Francis Crick deduced the double-helix structure of DNA, a scientist has captured the first direct photograph of the twisted ladder that props up life.

What is DNA made of? DNA is made of two winding strands that form a double helix, which looks like a twisted ladder. The strands are made of alternating sugar and phosphate groups.

Researchers have imaged in unprecedented detail the three-dimensional structure of supercoiled DNA, revealing that its shape is much more dynamic than the well-known double helix.

Give the “ladder” a clockwise twist, and you can see why DNA is also called the “double helix.” When organisms grow, their cells divide and in almost all cases each cell receives a ...

For DNA to be copied, the DNA double helix must open up, and the resulting single strands—each of which serves as a template for building a new, second strand—are vulnerable to breakage.

Guided by the work of Rosalind Franklin, James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the the twisted-ladder structure of DNA in 1953, a finding that gave rise to the modern field of molecular ...

What Is DNA? DNA is a molecule in the shape of a double helix, which looks like a twisted ladder. The rungs of the ladder are made of smaller molecules called nucleotides. These nucleotides come ...

Double stranded helix When looking at the structure, Watson and Crick found that DNA is a double stranded helix or a ladder that is twisted.

Not all DNA looks like the familiar twisted ladder. Sometimes, parts of our genetic code fold into unusual shapes. One such structure, the G-quadruplex (G4), looks like a knot. These knots can ...

The discovery of DNA's double helix structure 70 years ago opened up a world of new science — and also sparked disputes over who contributed what and who deserves credit. Much of the controversy ...