title: Hydrophobic effects on multivalent-salt-induced self-condensation of DNA.
abstract: Hydrophobic effects on multivalent-salt-induced self-condensation of a single polyelectrolyte chain such as DNA are investigated through a multiscale coarse-grained simulation based on density functional theory. We show that the water-mediated hydrophobic effect that was enhanced by hydration of multivalent salts plays an essential role in self-condensation of DNA. The self-condensation is interpreted as an entropy-driven compaction due to the hydration entropy gain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Knowledge-based Information Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Tempaku-cho, Toyohashi 441-8580, Japan. sumi@cochem2.tutkie.tut.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tomonari
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sumi
authors.forename: Chiaki
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sekino
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000187:drug effects; D019277:Entropy; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation / Q000187:drug effects; D012492:Salts / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D012492:Salts; D004247:DNA