The geometrical origin of the strain-twist coupling in double helices

Details The geometrical origin of the strain-twist coupling in double helices The geometrical origin of the strain-twist coupling in double helices

2010-03-28

arxiv.org/abs/1003.5358v2

Physics

Biological Physics

8 pages, 4 figures; typos fixed; added ref. and acknowledgement

Scientific paper

The geometrical coupling between strain and twist in double helices is investigated. Overwinding, where strain leads to further winding, is shown to be a universal property for helices, which are stretched along their longitudinal axis when the initial pitch angle is below the zero-twist angle (39.4 deg). Unwinding occurs at larger pitch angles. The zero-twist angle is the unique pitch angle at the point between overwinding and unwinding, and it is independent of the mechanical properties of the double helix. This suggests the existence of zero-twist structures, i.e. structures that display neither overwinding, nor unwinding under strain. Estimates of the overwinding of DNA, chromatin, and RNA are given.

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