Description: DNA Cholesteric Phases: The Role of DNA Molecular Chirality and DNA-DNA Electrostatic Interactions

This title appears in the Scientific Report : 2008

DNA Cholesteric Phases: The Role of DNA Molecular Chirality and DNA-DNA Electrostatic Interactions

DNA molecules form dense liquid-crystalline twisted phases both in vivo and in vitro. How the microscopic DNA chirality is transferred into intermolecular twist in these mesophases and what is the role of chiral DNA-DNA electrostatic interactions is still not completely clear. In this paper, we firs...

Personal Name(s):	Cherstvy, A. G.
Contributing Institute:	Theorie der Weichen Materie und Biophysik; IFF-2
Published in:	The @journal of physical chemistry / B, 112 (2008) S. 12585 - 12595
Imprint:	Washington, DC Soc. 2008
Physical Description:	12585 - 12595
PubMed ID:	18785770
DOI:	10.1021/jp801220p
Document Type:	Journal Article
Research Program:	Kondensierte Materie
Series Title:	Journal of Physical Chemistry B 112
Subject (ZB):	Animals Cations: chemistry DNA: chemistry Horses Humans Models, Genetic Nucleic Acid Conformation Static Electricity Cations DNA J
	Publikationsportal JuSER

Please use the identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp801220p in citations.

DNA molecules form dense liquid-crystalline twisted phases both in vivo and in vitro. How the microscopic DNA chirality is transferred into intermolecular twist in these mesophases and what is the role of chiral DNA-DNA electrostatic interactions is still not completely clear. In this paper, we first give an extended overview of experimental observations on DNA cholesteric phases and discuss the factors affecting their stability. Then, we consider the effects of steric and electrostatic interactions of grooved helical molecules on the sign of cholesteric twist. We present some theoretical results on the strength of DNA-DNA chiral electrostatic interactions, on DNA-DNA azimuthal correlations in cholesteric phases, on the value of DNA cholesteric pitch, and on the regions of existence of DNA chiral phases stabilized by electrostatic interactions. We suggest for instance that 146 bp long DNA fragments with stronger affinities for the nucleosome formation can form less chiral cholesteric phases, with a larger left-handed cholesteric pitch. Also, the value of left-handed pitch formed in assemblies of homologous DNA fragments is predicted to be smaller than that of randomly sequenced DNAs. We expect also the cholesteric assemblies of several-kbp-long DNAs to require higher external osmotic pressures for their stability than twisted phases of short nucleosomal DNA fragments at the same DNA lattice density.