Statistical thermodynamics of helix-coil transitions in biopolymers

American Journal of Physics

Volumn 67, Issue 12, 1999, Pages 1212-1215

  Bloomfield, Victor A ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0033274285     PISSN: 00029505     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1119/1.19107     Document Type: Article

References (10)

1. L. Stryer, Biochemistry (Freeman, New York, 1995), 4th ed.
2. C. R. Cantor and P. R. Schimmel, Biophysical Chemistry (Freeman, New York, 1980), Part III, Chap. 20.
3. J. A. Schellman, "The stability of hydrogen bonded peptide structures in aqueous solution," Compt. Rend. Trav. Lab. Carlsberg. Ser. Chim. 29, 230-259 (1955).
4. J. A. Schellman, "The factors affecting the stability of hydrogen-bonded polypeptide structures in solution," J. Phys. Chem. 62, 1485-1494 (1958).
5. B. H. Zimm and J. K. Bragg, "Theory of the phase transition between helix and random coil in polypeptide chains," J. Chem. Phys. 31, 526-535 (1959).
6. This method is similar to the transfer matrix method for the one-dimensional Ising model in a magnetic field. See, for example, M. Plischke and B. Bergersen, Equilibrium Statistical Physics (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1989). The two models are not identical because the matrix element for a helix followed by a coil is different than that of a coil followed by a helix. In the Ising model the matrix element for two spins oriented in opposite directions is the same independent of their order.
7. B. H. Zimm and S. A. Rice, "The helix-coil transition in charged macromolecules," Mol. Phys. 3, 391-407 (1960).
8. B. H. Zimm, "Theory of 'melting' of the helical form in double chains of the DNA type," J. Chem. Phys. 33, 1349-1356 (1960).
9. D. Poland and H. A. Scheraga, Theory of Helix-Coil Transitions in Biopolymers (Academic, New York, 1970).
10. B. H. Zimm, P. Doty, and K. Iso, "Determination of the parameters for helix formation in poly-γ-benzyl-L-glutamate," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 45, 1601-1607 (1959).