supercoiling

biology

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nucleic acid

  • polynucleotide chain of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
    In nucleic acid: Supercoiling

    Circular DNA molecules such as those found in plasmids or bacterial chromosomes can adopt many different topologies. One is active supercoiling, which involves the cleavage of one DNA strand, its winding one or more turns around the complementary strand, and then the resealing of…

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