Cube

This representation of a DNA cube shows that it contains six different cyclic strands. Their backbones are shown in red (front), green (right), yellow (back), magenta (left), cyan (top) and dark blue (bottom). Each nucleotide is represented by a single colored dot for the backbone and a single white dot representing the base. Note that the helix axes of the molecule have the connectivity of a cube. However, the strands are linked to each other twice on every edge. Therefore, this molecule is a hexacatenane. To get a feeling for the molecule, follow the red strand around its cycle: It is linked twice to the green strand, twice to the cyan strand, twice to the magenta strand, and twice to the dark blue strand. It is only indirectly linked to the yellow strand. Note that each edge of the cube is a piece of double helical DNA, containing two turns of the double helix.

Go to Homepage for Ned Seeman's Lab