Question

What are the major grooves and minor grooves of DNA?

Answer 1

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid):

1. It is a group of molecules, which carry and mediate the genetic information from the parents to the offspring.
2. It is formed of sugar-phosphate backbone and nucleotide bases, that is, guanine, cytosine, adenine, and thymine.

Grooves in DNA:

1. It is the cut or depression present in the composition of DNA.
2. It originates due to the antiparallel alignment of the DNA strands.
3. The minor and the major grooves run spontaneously along the DNA molecules’ entire length.
4. They run opposite each other.

Major and minor grooves:

1. Two distinct grooves known as the minor and the major grooves form on the opposite sides of the base pairs.
2. The formation of minor grooves takes place where the sugar phosphate backbones are far apart.
3. While the formation of major grooves takes place where the sugar phosphate backbones are close together.