Statistical models for nucleic acids (2309.04163v1)

Abstract: ds-RNA and standard ds-DNA show specific structural differences in their di-nucleotide steps, piled along the helical axis. Modeling the helices of short fragments by a 3D mesoscopic Hamiltonian model, I use path integral techniques to compute the average helical repeat and show that these structural features are at the origin of the opposite twist-stretch patterns of the A- and B- form.