Cation-Anion Interactions within the Nucleic Acid Ion Atmosphere Revealed by Ion Counting.

ABSTRACT: The ion atmosphere is a critical structural, dynamic, and energetic component of nucleic acids that profoundly affects their interactions with proteins and ligands. Experimental methods that "count" the number of ions thermodynamically associated with the ion atmosphere allow dissection of energetic properties of the ion atmosphere, and thus provide direct comparison to theoretical results. Previous experiments have focused primarily on the cations that are attracted to nucleic acid polyanions, but have also showed that anions are excluded from the ion atmosphere. Herein, we have systematically explored the properties of anion exclusion, testing the zeroth-order model that anions of different identity are equally excluded due to electrostatic repulsion. Using a series of monovalent salts,

SUBMITTER: Gebala M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4739826 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature