The mechanism behind mutual recognition of homologous DNA sequences prior to genetic recombination is one of the remaining puzzles in molecular biology. Leading models of homology recognition, based on classical electrostatics, neglect the short-range nonlocal screening effects arising from structured water around DNA, and hence may only provide insight for relatively large separations between interacting DNAs. We elucidate the role of the effects of the nonlocal dielectric response of water on DNA-DNA interaction and show that these can dramatically enhance the driving force for recognition.
Journal article
J Phys Condens Matter
05/07/2024
36
DNA homology recognition, non local electrostatics, structured water, DNA, Water, Nucleic Acid Conformation, Static Electricity, Models, Molecular, Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid