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arXiv · 0905.2057

Long DNA molecule as a pseudoscalar liquid crystal

K. G. Petrosyan·Chin-Kun Hu
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Abstract

We show that a long DNA molecule can form a novel condensed phase of matter, the pseudoscalar liquid crystal, that consists of aperiodically ordered DNA fragments in right-handed B and left-handed Z forms. We discuss the possibility of transformation of B-DNA into Z-DNA and vice versa via first-order phase transitions as well as transformations from the phase with zero total chirality into pure B- or Z-DNA samples through second-order phase transitions. The presented minimalistic phenomenological model describes the pseudoscalar liquid crystal phase of DNA and the phase transition phenomena. We point out to a possibility that a pseudoscalar liquid nano-crystal can be assembled via DNA-programming.

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K. G. Petrosyan, Chin-Kun Hu. 2009-05-13. Long DNA molecule as a pseudoscalar liquid crystal. https://arxiv.org/abs/0905.2057

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