#HELIX SHAPE FULL#

But some organisms don’t have double helix DNA at all! Some viruses store all their genetic information in single stranded DNA that doesn’t pair up. So far, we’ve talked about DNA as it looks like in our cells, where it usually looks like a double helix. This gives us our familiar DNA double helix shape.ĭuring DNA replication, the site of replication looks like a fork in the road (Image via Shutterstock) Single-stranded DNA

#HELIX SHAPE FULL#

The full ladder shape then naturally twists to better hide those bases away in the center. So the water-hating bases prefer to latch on to each other, with the outer backbone shielding them from the water.

Fortunately, the outer backbone strands of DNA are hydrophilic and love water! Unfortunately, your cells are mostly made up of water, so the bases are surrounded by it. That means they want to avoid contact with water. The chemical properties of DNA cause it to adopt this shape naturally.įirst, the base pairs themselves are hydrophobic. The bases from each strand match up in the middle to link together, with A pairing with T and C pairing with G. Each strand will have nucleotide bases sticking out of it - those famous letters of A, T, C, and G. This is made up of two strands running in opposite directions. DNA’s Twists and TurnsĭNA is most often found in the classic double helix shape.

Then, we’ll get into why it sometimes takes other shapes. But DNA, the all-important blueprint for making up who we are, definitely does not always take this shape!įirst, let’s look into why DNA is a double helix in the first place. Yes! Most people have probably seen DNA depicted as a double helix, with two chains twisting around each other to make a spiral staircase structure.

Helix shape