DNA SELF ASSEMBLY
DNA SELF ASSEMBLY
Watson-Crick Base Pairing
A double stranded nucleic acid (AKA DNA) has millions of base pairs. One base pair consist of 2 nucleobases bound to each other by hydrogen bonds. How they form the structure follows a natural rule: guanine(G) and cytosine(C) like to bond to each other, and adenine(A) and its buddy thymine (T) . GC base pair contains 3 hydrogen bonds, which means that the more GC pairs one have, the more likely it will tolerate high temperature. (Reference: Base pair - Wikipedia)
DNA Double Helix
Two DNA single strand twist around each other to from the double helix structure. Based on Watson-Crick base paring rules, C pairs with G and A must pair with T. That means, if we are given one DNA strand sequence, we will know the other half’s sequence. (reference: N.C. Seeman, J Theor Biol. 99, 237-247, (1982) )
Click me to see a 3-D DNA structure!
