Auteur(s): Manna Federico, Lorman V., Podgornik R., Zeks B.
(Article) Publié: Physical Review E: Statistical, Nonlinear, And Soft Matter Physics, vol. 75 p.030901(R) (2007)
Ref HAL: hal-00338927_v1
PMID 17500660
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.75.030901
WoS: 000245324300006
Exporter : BibTex | endNote
17 Citations
Résumé:
We investigate a new screwlike liquid-crystalline ordering in solutions of helical biopolymers and its influence on the state of individual molecules. In the resulting mesophase translational and rotational motions of molecules are coupled in screw fluctuations. We show that in contrast to the case of conventional chiral liquid crystals the elastic distortion does not twist the screw order but leads to overwinding of individual helical molecules. This explains the peculiarities of high-density DNA mesophases.