Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Qiu X
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3003027 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Qiu Xiangyun X Parsegian V Adrian VA Rau Donald C DC
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20101122 50
Understanding and manipulation of the forces assembling DNA/RNA helices have broad implications for biology, medicine, and physics. One subject of significance is the attractive force between dsDNA mediated by polycations of valence ≥ 3. Despite extensive studies, the physical origin of the "like-charge attraction" remains unsettled among competing theories. Here we show that triple-strand DNA (tsDNA), a more highly charged helix than dsDNA, is precipitated by alkaline-earth divalent cations tha ...[more]