119th General Meeting of the KCS

Type Poster Presentation
Area 물리화학
Room No. 포스터발표장
Time 4월 20일 (목요일) 11:00~12:30
Code PHYS.P-34
Subject Dynamics of Counter Ions Surrounding Double-Strand DNA
Authors 정성호, 함시현*
숙명여자대학교 화학과, Korea
Abstract Anomalous behavior of counter ions surrounding DNA is a long-standing issue. Recent advances in computer hardware, software, and molecular mechanics force fields have now made it possible to perform atomistically detailed molecular dynamics simulations of sufficient length to obtain reliable description of ion distributions around DNA. However, relatively less attention has been paid to the dynamical aspects of counter ions. In the present work, we investigate the dynamics of counter ions surrounding a double-strand DNA using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the counter ions in the first shell exhibit extremely slow relaxations occurring on nanosecond timescales, which are comparable to those of the DNA conformational dynamics. Our results indicate the necessity of explicit handling of the first-shell counter ions in the study of DNA, i.e., the counter ions constitute an integral part of DNA.
E-mail songho.chong@gmail.com