This was discovered over a year ago, but we haven't seen any widespread media coverage, so we're posting it again.

Forget double helix. ‘Quadruple helix’ DNA discovered in human cells

In 1953, Cambridge researchers Watson and Crick published a paper describing the interweaving ‘double helix’ DNA structure – the chemical code for all life.

Now, in the year of that scientific landmark’s 60th Anniversary, Cambridge researchers have published a paper proving that four-stranded ‘quadruple helix’ DNA structures – known as G-quadruplexes – also exist within the human genome. They form in regions of DNA that are rich in the building block guanine, usually abbreviated to ‘G’.

The findings mark the culmination of over 10 years investigation by scientists to show these complex structures in vivo – in living human cells – working from the hypothetical, through computational modelling to synthetic lab experiments and finally the identification in human cancer cells using fluorescent biomarkers.

Read more at http://scienceblog.com/59217/forget-double-helix-quadruple-helix-dna-discovered-in-human-cells/#0KO0AzHc0rdw1kGg.99