Faculty Articles
Water-Mediated Correlations in DNA-Enzyme Interactions
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-2018
Publication Title
Physics Letters A
Volume
382
Issue/Number
1
First Page
33
ISSN
0375-9601
Last Page
43
Abstract/Excerpt
In this letter we consider dipole-mediated correlations between DNA and enzymes in the context of their water environment. Such correlations emerge from electric dipole-dipole interactions between aromatic ring structures in DNA and in enzymes. We show that there are matching collective modes between DNA and enzyme dipole fields, and that a dynamic time-averaged polarization vanishes in the water dipole field only if either DNA, enzyme, or both are absent from the sample. This persistent field may serve as the electromagnetic image that, in popular colloquialisms about DNA biochemistry, allows enzymes to “scan” or “read” the double helix. Topologically nontrivial configurations in the coherent ground state requiring clamplike enzyme behavior on the DNA may stem, ultimately, from spontaneously broken gauge symmetries.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physleta.2017.10.038
NSUWorks Citation
Kurian, P.,
Capolupo, A.,
Craddock, T. J.,
Vitiello, G.
(2018). Water-Mediated Correlations in DNA-Enzyme Interactions. Physics Letters A, 382(1), 33-43.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/1634