DOUBLE HELIX

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does double helix mean? 

• DOUBLE HELIX (noun)
  The noun DOUBLE HELIX has 1 sense:

1. a pair of parallel helices intertwined about a common axis

  Familiarity information: DOUBLE HELIX used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DOUBLE HELIX (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A pair of parallel helices intertwined about a common axis

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Context example:

the shape of the DNA molecule is a double helix

Hypernyms ("double helix" is a kind of...):

helix; spiral (a curve that lies on the surface of a cylinder or cone and cuts the element at a constant angle)

 Context examples 

One of the two types of grooves found in a right-handed double helix, running between the sugar phosphate backbones of each strand.

(Major Groove, NCI Thesaurus)

Molecules called nucleotides, on opposite strands of the DNA double helix, that form chemical bonds with one another.

(Base pair, NCI Dictionary)

B-DNA is about 20 Angstrom in diameter and a right-handed double helix with a wide major groove easily accessible to proteins and narrow minor groove.

(B-DNA, NCI Thesaurus)

DNA replication is a process that allows two new double helixes of DNA to be created from one double helix.

(DNA Replication Fork, NCI Thesaurus)

DNA forms 2 long strands that wind around each other to form a double helix.

(Structural Snapshots of Damaged DNA, NIH)

The smaller of the two types of spiral grooves found on a right-handed DNA double helix; located between the sugar phosphate backbones of two DNA strands.

(Minor Groove, NCI Thesaurus)

The process by which the two strands of a DNA double helix separate, allowing each strand to act as a template for the synthesis of a complementary strand by specific base pairing.

(DNA replication, NCI Thesaurus)

DNA Intercalation involves insertion by covalent linkage of a molecule into the double-stranded deoxyribonucleotide polymer between the internal purine and pyrimidine base pairs stacked one on another perpendicular to the double helix axis.

(DNA Intercalation, NCI Thesaurus)

DNA Replication Inhibition involves interference with, or restraint of, the activities of biologic molecules or complexes involved in the process by which the two strands of a DNA double helix separate and each strand acts as a template for the synthesis of a complementary strand by specific base pairing.

(DNA Replication Inhibition, NCI Thesaurus)

DNA Replication Induction involves initiation of activities of biologic molecules or complexes involved in the process by which the two strands of a DNA double helix separate and each strand acts as a template for the synthesis of a complementary strand by specific base pairing.

(DNA Replication Induction, NCI Thesaurus)