Table 1

Watson- and Crick-strand definitions

Definition

Watson

Crick

Original

cytosine-poor

cytosine-rich

Compositional

pyrimidine-rich

purine-rich

Transcriptional

antisense

sense

Replicational

lagging

leading

Arbitrary

this

that

Database

top/plus

bottom/minus

5' to 3'

left to right (top or left-hand)

right to left (bottom or right-hand)

Cartwright and Graur Biology Direct 2011 6:7   doi:10.1186/1745-6150-6-7