File talk:DNA chemical structure.svg

PS -- just let me know if you think the colors on any of the bases are too dark. I can easily edit them to be lighter. -Madeleine 02:11, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Possible error in the image

Dear maker of this image, I have received on OTRS an email, from a Hungarian user complaining that while this image is very good there seems to be a mistake in the image (sorry for a possibly bad translation): "the sugars (deoxyribose) on the two spirals are the same, yet the image seems to indicate that on the right side there are alpha-deoxyriboses".

If you think his opinion has merit, please correct the image. Best regards, --Dami (talk) 12:55, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

I see what this user's issue is, but it's not actually an error: he perceives that the oxygen attachment on the upper-right of the ribose rings on the right-hand side are coming "up" out of the plane when they are actually going "down" into the plane. But this isn't an error in the image: the image doesn't indicate stereochemistry information, this is only how the user is choosing to interpret the image. It's practically impossible to display DNA in a 2D format that doesn't have a bit of "wrongness" to it at some of the junctions because DNA isn't a flat molecule. I could try twisting things around but I'm not inclined to put the effort into doing so because, in the end, it's going to be a matter of personal perception.

Others are welcome to modify this image to add stereochemistry information as with the triangles and dashes in this image: [1]. This will make the image more cluttered, however, so I think this one should remain as it is. -- Madeleine (talk) 20:14, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

This file has been used in:   Jean Brainard (August 18, 2009). "Chemical Basis of Life". CK-12 Flexbooks.