Beyond the Helix: 'Supercoiled' DNA Twists into Crazy Shapes

"This is because the action of drug molecules relies on them recognizing a specific molecular shape — much like a key fits a particular lock," said study co-author Sarah Harris, a physicist at the University of Leeds in England. After molecular biologists James Watson and Francis Crick first published a paper on the structure of DNA in 1953, the double helix became the iconic symbol of the code of life. "When Watson and Crick described the DNA double helix, they were looking at a tiny part