2007-12-30 07:58:05 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
This is essential for base pairing. If they were parallel the complementary bases would not face one another to form and hydrogen bonded; moreover, the phosphates won't be on the exterior to face the water molecules.
2008-01-03 01:18:14 · answer #1 · answered by Ishan26 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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Those are the way the strands run. At one end of the strand is the 5' end, with the other end is the 3' end. The 3' end of one strand connects to the 5' end of the other strand, and vice versa.
The strands are parallel, but they move in opposite directions, thus antiparallel
2007-12-30 16:01:31 · answer #2 · answered by Andrea 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
While one side of the helix runs in a 3' to 5' direction (based on the position of the sugars in the nucleotide bases) the other side runs in the opposite direction (thus being anti-parallel) or 5' to 3'.
Hopefully this helps.
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2007-12-30 16:04:15 · answer #3 · answered by Bryan 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because the backbones run 5' to 3' and 3' to 5'
2007-12-30 15:59:59 · answer #4 · answered by fshklr1 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋