X-ray diffraction studies of circular superhelical DNA at 300-10,000-A resolution.

X-ray diffraction studies on circular superhelical DNA from bacteriophage PM2 at a very low scattering angle show that it is possible to measure the superhelical scattering function of the molecule. The results suggest that in addition to the primary supercoil, a higher order of supercoiling of the DNA is present, an effect which can be interpreted with a simple analogue.