title: Phase transition between A and B forms of DNA: a free-energy perspective.
abstract: We study the structural transition from B form of DNA to A form of DNA using group theoretic methods. The transition is not of the order-disorder type and hence to construct a Landau kind of theory for the transition we define a higher symmetry and relevant order parameters. We also discuss the issue of all the conformations, observed experimentally during the course of transition, being fundamentally different or not.
authors.affiliation: Theoretical Condensed Matter, Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar 751005, India. deva@iopb.res.in
authors.forename: Devashish
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sanyal
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004735:Energy Transfer; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D044367:Phase Transition
chemical_list: D004247:DNA