Twist in chiral interaction between biological helices.
Using an exact solution for the pair interaction potential, we show that long, rigid, chiral molecules with helical surface charge patterns have a preferential interaxial angle approximately sqrt[RH]/L, where L is the length of the molecules, R is the closest distance between their axes, and H is the helical pitch. Estimates based on this formula suggest a solution for the puzzle of small interaxial angles in alpha-helix bundles and in cholesteric phases of DNA.
Kornyshev
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Research Center "Jülich," D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
Leikin
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D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation
D004247:DNA