title: Cooperative chiral order in the B-Z transition in random sequences of DNA.
abstract: We present a theory for cooperative chiral order in the transition between right-handed B-DNA and left-handed Z-DNA. This theory, based on the random-field Ising model, predicts the characteristic length scale of Z-DNA segments. This length scale depends on whether the DNA is a homopolymer or a random sequence: it is approximately 4000 nucleotides in a homopolymer but only approximately 25 nucleotides in a random sequence. These theoretical results are consistent with experiments on DNA homopolymers and random sequences.
authors.affiliation: Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375, USA. selinger@karma.nrl.navy.mil
authors.forename: J V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Selinger
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Schnur
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011897:Random Allocation; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D004247:DNA