On the physical nature of mesophases of guanosine gels

Abstract

The unusual columnar aqueous mesophases of self-assembled guanosine stacks, such as 2′-deoxyguanosine 5′-monophosphate and 2′-deoxyguanosine 3′-monophosphate, are analyzed in terms of a general theory of azimuthal correlations between the charged helices. This theory considers forces, specific to the helical structure of each macromolecule, which depend on the azimuthal orientations of the molecules about their long axes. More specifically, in determining the magnitudes and decay lengths of these helix specific forces we utilize the Kornyshev–Leikin theory of electrostatic interaction between helical macromolecules and quantitatively fit experimental data. Together with explaining a number of the observed features of these mesophases, several new effects are predicted. Possible limitations and developments of our theoretical model are discussed, as well as new experiments to test the implications of the theory.