Talk:Double helix

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The late philosopher George W. Roberts, then of Duke University, with his colleague the mathematician Bill Pohl, published a paper in the Journal of Mathematical Biology "Topological consideration in the theory of replication of DNA" (Vol 6, No 4; Oct 78; pps 383-402; Springer Verlag) with the thesis that DNA forms a "Twin Helix" instead of a "Double Helix". The two strands of a Twin Helix are not topologically connected; imagine two slinkies, side by side, and slid together. The strands of a Double Helix are connected; imagine two straight wires side by side, then twisted together from the ends. They can not be slid apart without being first unravelled.

The arguement is that the Twin Helix would be thermodynamically feasible for enzymes to seperate. At the time, X-Ray Crystalography was not sufficiently advanced to indicate the precise topology directly. One can hope that by now the issue has been resolved by someone.

The Twin Helix hypothesis may seem simplest and therefore likliest, but it was not accepted by the molecular biology community at the time.

Peter H. St.John, M.S. 20:41, 16 November 2006 (UTC)