DNA Structure Activity

Problem 7: Are the two strands of DNA parallel or anti-parallel?

Are the two strands of DNA parallel or anti-parallel? Switch to the view labeled "Antiparallel DNA strands". Only the sugar rings of each base pair are shown. The sugar carbon atoms are colored blue and yellow. Notice that directly opposite each blue sugar on one strand is a yellow sugar on the other strand. Notice that the different colored sugar rings make two helical spirals that wrap around a common axis. The "+" and "-" zoom tools from the Tool Bar can be used for zooming in and out.Using the red oxygen atoms as a reference, determine if the two strands of DNA spiral in the:

Tutorial

The close up picture from the view "Antiparallel DNA strands" was created with the zoom tool. Try zooming in close for a better look. In the illustration for this problem, note that the oxygen atom is pointing up on one strand (yellow) and down on the other (blue), indicating that the sugar-phosphate backbones are moving in opposite direction. The strands of a DNA double helix are said to be "antiparallel" because they have the same chemical structure, but are opposite in direction. The direction of a DNA strand is also known as "polarity".