First Images of DNA 'Zipping' Together Confirm a 20-Year-Old Prediction
Researchers have captured high-resolution images of DNA double helices aligning side-by-side, confirming a 20-year-old scientific prediction. The study reveals how positively charged ions act as bridges to overcome the natural electrical repulsion between DNA molecules.
Why it matters
This discovery provides a fundamental understanding of how DNA is packed within cells, which could lead to breakthroughs in genetic research and biotechnology.
(Agnes Noy/Catley et al., Nucleic Acids Research, 2026) If you could peer inside a cell's nucleus, you would find DNA tightly packed into a remarkably small space.
But that arrangement presents a puzzle: DNA molecules carry the same negative electrical charge, so they repel one another. How can they get so close?
Researchers at the University of Sheffield and the University of York in the UK have captured a striking clue. Two DNA double helices sat side by side, their grooves aligned like the teeth of a zip.
The advance gives scientists direct structural evidence for an arrangement proposed more than 20 years ago. Combined with computer simulations, it also reveals how positively charged ions can form bridges that hold neighboring DNA molecules together.
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