International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences
Volume 6 (1983), Issue 4, Pages 767-781
doi:10.1155/S0161171283000654
Propagation of elastic waves in DNA
Sunil Mukherjee1
, Saumyendra Nath Sarkar1
, Probhas Raychaudhuri3
and Sunil Kumar Mazumdar4
1Department of Physics, Biophysics Section, University of Calcutta, Calcutta 700 009, India
3Department of Applied Mathematics, Calcutta University, Calcutta 700 009, India
4Crystallograph and Molecular Biology Division, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta 700 009, India
Abstract
The mathematical analyses of longitudinal and torsional elastic waves transmitted along DNA molecule undergoing Brownian motion in solution are presented. Longitudinal vibrations in DNA are shown to be responsible for drug intercalation and breathing. The near neighbor exclusion mode of drug intercalation is explained. Torsional oscillations in DNA are shown to be responsible for conformation transitions from a right handed to a left handed form, depending on sequence specificity in high salt concentration.