What is the shape of DNA?

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Multiple Choice

What is the shape of DNA?

Explanation:
DNA’s shape is a double helix. Two long strands of nucleotides wind around each other, with the sugar-phosphate backbones on the outside and the bases pairing inside through hydrogen bonds (A with T, C with G). The strands run antiparallel, meaning they go in opposite directions, and the twist forms a right-handed helix. This arrangement gives a uniform diameter and a characteristic pitch—about 3.4 nanometers per turn with roughly 10 base pairs per turn. A chromosome is a larger, packaged form of DNA, not the basic shape of the molecule itself; a helical ribbon and a ladder are oversimplified or misleading ways to picture DNA. The double helix is the precise, defining shape.

DNA’s shape is a double helix. Two long strands of nucleotides wind around each other, with the sugar-phosphate backbones on the outside and the bases pairing inside through hydrogen bonds (A with T, C with G). The strands run antiparallel, meaning they go in opposite directions, and the twist forms a right-handed helix. This arrangement gives a uniform diameter and a characteristic pitch—about 3.4 nanometers per turn with roughly 10 base pairs per turn. A chromosome is a larger, packaged form of DNA, not the basic shape of the molecule itself; a helical ribbon and a ladder are oversimplified or misleading ways to picture DNA. The double helix is the precise, defining shape.

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