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The DNA Helix

The DNA Helix

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Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is the genetic material responsible for passing traits from generation to generation in all organisms and most viruses. DNA is composed of two strands of nucleotides that wind around each other to form a spring-like structure called a double helix. However, the double helix is not perfectly symmetrical. Instead, there are regularly occurring grooves in the structure. The major groove occurs where the sugar-phosphate backbones are relatively far apart. This space...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Single-Molecule Fluorescence Visualization of DNA Polymerase Dynamics at G-Quadruplexes

Single-Molecule Fluorescence Visualization of DNA Polymerase Dynamics at G-Quadruplexes

Published on: April 4, 2025

A mirror-image tetramolecular DNA quadruplex.

Phong Lan Thao Tran^1,2, Rui Moriyama³, Atsushi Maruyama³

¹Université de Bordeaux, Laboratoire ARNA, F-33000 Bordeaux, France. jean-louis.mergny@inserm.fr.

Chemical Communications (Cambridge, England)

|April 13, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Mirror-image L-DNA strands form stable quadruplex structures with properties similar to natural D-DNA. Mixing L- and D-DNA strands leads to self-exclusion, enabling controlled parallel self-assembly of G-rich sequences.

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Self-assembly of Complex Two-dimensional Shapes from Single-stranded DNA Tiles

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Last Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Single-Molecule Fluorescence Visualization of DNA Polymerase Dynamics at G-Quadruplexes

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Self-assembly of Complex Two-dimensional Shapes from Single-stranded DNA Tiles

Self-assembly of Complex Two-dimensional Shapes from Single-stranded DNA Tiles

Published on: May 8, 2015

Area of Science:

Biochemistry
Molecular Biology
Supramolecular Chemistry

Background:

Natural DNA (D-DNA) forms various higher-order structures, including G-quadruplexes.
L-DNA, the enantiomer of D-DNA, has a reversed chirality and its structural properties are less explored.
Guanine-rich sequences are known to form stable G-quadruplex structures.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the structural properties of G-rich L-DNA quadruplexes.
To compare the self-assembly behavior of L-DNA and D-DNA strands.
To explore the potential of L-DNA for controlled molecular self-assembly.

Main Methods:

Synthesis of a short guanine-rich L-DNA strand.
Structural characterization of the L-DNA quadruplex using biophysical techniques.
Circular dichroism spectroscopy to analyze chirality and structural conformation.
Mixing experiments with D-DNA strands to observe self-assembly and exclusion behavior.

Main Results:

A short guanine-rich L-DNA strand successfully formed a tetramolecular quadruplex.
The L-DNA quadruplex exhibited similar structural properties to its D-DNA counterpart.
Circular dichroism spectra of the L-DNA quadruplex were inverted compared to the D-DNA quadruplex.
L-DNA and D-DNA strands demonstrated self-exclusion upon mixing.
This self-exclusion facilitates controlled parallel self-assembly of different G-rich strands.

Conclusions:

G-rich L-DNA can form stable quadruplex structures with conserved properties, albeit with inverted chirality.
The observed self-exclusion between L-DNA and D-DNA offers a novel strategy for directed self-assembly.
L-DNA presents a promising tool for creating complex, spatially organized molecular architectures.