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This article is cited in 103 scientific papers (total in 103 papers)
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Polyelectrolyte model of DNA
M. D. Frank-Kamenetsky, V. V. Anshelevich, A. V. Lukashin Institute of Molecular Genetics of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Abstract:
The present state of the theory of strongly charged polyelectrolytes of the DNA type is reviewed. An infinitely long, uniformly charged cylinder immersed in a dielectric continuum is adopted as a model of DNA. Small mobile ions are treated as impermeable spheres. A comparison of the results of rigorous and approximate theoretical approaches to the description of this model shows that the self-consistent-field method, i.e., the Poisson-Boltzmann equation, is a reliable basis for deriving quantitative results. The theory of polyelectrolytes based on a solution of the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation is used to analyze the role played by electrostatic interactions in conformational changes in DNA. Transitions of two types are considered: a helix-coil transition and a transition between the ordinary right-hand-helix DNA (the B form) and the recently discovered left-hand-helix (the Z form). In the latter case the theory predicts a nonmonotonic behavior of the difference between the free energies of these conformations as a function of the salt concentration. It also predicts the existence of a critical point of a B-Z equilibrium for ionic strengths in the physiological region.
Citation:
M. D. Frank-Kamenetsky, V. V. Anshelevich, A. V. Lukashin, “Polyelectrolyte model of DNA”, UFN, 151:4 (1987), 595–618; Phys. Usp., 30:4 (1987), 317–330
Linking options:
https://www.mathnet.ru/eng/ufn7925 https://www.mathnet.ru/eng/ufn/v151/i4/p595
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