Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 25: Focus: Charge Effects in Soft and Biological Matter I (joint CPP, BP, ST)

BP 25.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 25, 2010, 11:00–11:30, H45

Charge effects in RNA folding — •Lois Pollack — Cornell University, Ithaca, NY USA

Because nucleic acid backbones possess such a high negative charge, interactions with positively charged ions (or larger charged molecules) are critically important to the biophysics of both RNA and DNA. Our studies of the earliest events in RNA folding highlight the importance of electrostatic interactions to this conformational change. Complementary x-ray scattering experiments on short nucleic acid duplexes have elucidated the spatial distribution of condensed counterions, as well as ion-induced interactions between duplexes. Interactions between these helices can be tuned from repulsive to attractive by varying counterion charge and concentration. Interesting differences between RNA and DNA are revealed by these measurements.