Elastic model of looped DNA (Q1086191)

A molecule of DNA is usually visualized as a right-handed double helix in which two chains of complementary nucleotides wind around a common axis. These molecules exist in either linear or circular forms. This paper is concerned with the circular forms of DNA. The global structure of a loop of DNA can be characterized using a topological invariant, the linking number Lk which measures the number of times one strand winds round the other, and two differential geometric invariants, the writhing number Wr which characterises the shapes of the central axis and the twisting number Tw which measures the number of times the strands twist around the central axis. These numbers are related by the equation \(Lk=Tw+Wr.\) The paper discusses a model for DNA in which the molecule is represented by a thin rod with right-handed double helical stripes. The equilibrium positions then correspond to positions of minimal elastic energy. The paper considers two exact solutions of this minimization problem corresponding to cases where the central axis is planar. These are a circular configuration and one that is a figure eight. It is shown that for writhing numbers of large absolute value the figure eight has lower total energy.