Molecular models of DNA simulations that are very important to understand how DNA functions "in vivo". From the very early stages of structural studies of DNA by X-ray diffraction and biochemical means, molecular models such as the Watson-Crick nucleic acid double helix model were successfully employed to solve the 'puzzle' of DNA structure, and also find how the latter relates to its key functions in living cells. The first high quality X-ray diffraction patterns of A-DNA were reported by Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling in 1953. Rosalind Franklin made the critical observation that DNA exists in two distinct forms, A and B, and produced
DNA DNA strands during processes such as transcription and DNA replication. DNA exists in many possible conformations that include A-DNA, B-DNA, and Z-DNA forms, although, only B-DNA and Z-DNA have been directly observed in functional organisms. The conformation that DNA adopts depends on the hydration level, DNA sequence, the amount and direction of supercoiling, chemical modifications of the bases, the type and concentration of metal ions, and the presence of polyamines in solution. The first published reports of A-DNA X-ray diffraction patterns—and also B-DNA—used analyses based on Patterson transforms that provided only a limited amount of structural information for oriented fibers