title: Theoretical description of biomolecular hydration. Application to A-DNA.
abstract: The local density of water molecules around a biomolecule is constructed from calculated two- and three-points correlation functions of polar solvents in water using a Potential-of-Mean-Force (PMF) expansion. As a simple approximation, the hydration of all polar (including charged) groups in a biomolecule is represented by the hydration of water oxygen in bulk water, and the effect of non-polar groups on hydration are neglected, except for excluded volume effects. Pair and triplet correlation functions are calculated by molecular dynamics simulations. We present calculations of the structural hydration for ideal A-DNA molecules with sequences [d(CG)5]2 and [d(C5G5)]2. We find that this method can accurately reproduce the hydration patterns of A-DNA observed in neutron diffraction experiments on oriented DNA fibers (P. Langan et al. J. Biomol. Struct. Dyn., 10, 489 (1992)).
authors.affiliation: Theoretical Biology and Biophysics Group, New Mexico 87545, USA.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hummer
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Soumpasis
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D003461:Crystallography / Q000379:methods; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009502:Neutrons; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D014867:Water; D004247:DNA