Intrinsic Birefringence of Multiple-Coiled DNA Theory and Applications

摘要

The intrinsic birefringence of multiple-coiled DNA is computed in terms of an equally dense array of parallel DNA molecules. The birefringence for n times-coiled DNA molecules is given by [Formula: see text] where βo = 0, βi = tan^-1 (pi/2πri), pi = period of the i^th helix coil and ri = radius of i^th helix coil. The formula is applied to two cases of helically coiled DNA in biological material and found to agree quantitatively with experimental results.