DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid molecules have a double-helical structure. In other words, a DNA molecule is a double helix. A DNA molecule consists of two linear strands which are complementary to each other. Each of these strands consists of a large number of nucleotides, which serve as the monomers for these strands. The nucleotides contain a nitrogenous base, a sugar and one or more phosphate groups. There are 4 different nitrogenous bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. Adenine (A) binds only with thymine (T) and cytosine (C) binds only with guanine (G). This base pairing is what connects these complementary strands together and provides the double helical structure to a DNA molecule.
The discovery of the double helical structure of DNA was made by Francis Crick and James Watson, with help from Rosalind Franklin.
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