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Science 15 July 1988:
Vol. 241. no. 4863, pp. 323 - 327
DOI: 10.1126/science.3388041
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Articles

Science, Vol 241, Issue 4863, 323-327
Copyright © 1988 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Helical repeat and linking number of surface-wrapped DNA

JH White, NR Cozzarelli, and WR Bauer

Department of Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles 90024.

The geometric properties of duplex DNA are systematically altered when the DNA is wrapped on a protein surface. The linking number of surface-wrapped closed circular DNA is the sum of two integers: the winding number, phi, a function of the helical repeat; and the surface linking number, SLk, a newly defined geometric constant that accounts for the effects of surface geometry on the twist and writhe of DNA. Changes in the helical repeat, h, and in the winding number can be deduced solely from surface geometry and superhelix density, sigma. This treatment relates the theoretically important properties twist and writhe to the more experimentally accessible quantities phi, h, SLk, and sigma. The analysis is applied to three biologically important cases: interwinding of DNA in a plectonemic superhelix, catenated DNA, and minichromosomes.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The CSB Protein Actively Wraps DNA.
N. Beerens, J. H. J. Hoeijmakers, R. Kanaar, W. Vermeulen, and C. Wyman (2005)
J. Biol. Chem. 280, 4722-4729
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Functional analysis of DNA bending and unwinding by the high mobility group domain of LEF-1.
K. Giese, J. Pagel, and R. Grosschedl (1997)
PNAS 94, 12845-12850
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