double helix

American  

noun

Biochemistry, Genetics.

1. the spiral arrangement of the two complementary strands of DNA.

---

double helix British  

noun

1. biochem the form of the molecular structure of DNA, consisting of two helical polynucleotide chains linked by hydrogen bonds and coiled around the same axis

---

double helix Scientific  

1. The three-dimensional structure of double-stranded DNA, in which polymeric nucleotide strands whose complementary nitrogen bases are linked by hydrogen bonds form a helical configuration. The two DNA strands are oriented in opposite directions.

---

double helix Cultural  

1. The shape taken by the DNA molecule. A helix is a three-dimensional spiral, like the shape of a spring or the railing on a spiral staircase. A DNA molecule consists of two helixes intertwined.

---

Etymology

Origin of double helix

First recorded in 1953; term introduced by J.D. Watson and F.H.C. Crick

Example Sentences

Watson shared the Nobel in 1962 with Maurice Wilkins and Francis Crick for the DNA's double helix structure discovery.

From BBC

Form and content, the visual and the physical, create art’s spellbinding double helix.

From Los Angeles Times

Watson shared the Nobel in 1962 with Maurice Wilkins and Crick for the DNA's double helix structure discovery.

From BBC

More than seven decades later, mathematician Robert Monjo believes he has discovered a similarly significant double helix — but this time not as the structure of human DNA, but as the structure of spacetime itself.

From Salon

The enigma emerged in the 1950s, when biologists discovered that the double helix of DNA encodes genes.

From New York Times