Multiscale modeling of double-helical DNA and RNA: a unification through Lie groups.

ABSTRACT: Several different mechanical models of double-helical nucleic-acid structures that have been presented in the literature are reviewed here together with a new analysis method that provides a reconciliation between these disparate models. In all cases, terminology and basic results from the theory of Lie groups are used to describe rigid-body motions in a coordinate-free way, and when necessary, coordinates are introduced in a way in which simple equations result. We consider double-helical DNAs and RNAs which, in their unstressed referential state, have backbones that are either straight, slightly precurved, or bent by the action of a protein or other bound molecule. At the coarsest level, we consider worm-like chains with anisotropic bending stiffness. Then, we show how bi-rod models conv

SUBMITTER: Wolfe KC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4833121 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature