Molecular field theory of hysteresis in helix-coil transitions of polynucleotides

Weisbuch G, Neumann E. Molecular field theory of hysteresis in helix-coil transitions of polynucleotides. Biopolymers. 1973;12(7):1479-1491.A molecular field theory, taking into account long-range electrostatic forces is used to study helix-coil transitions of polynucleotides. The theory predicts the existence of hysteresis when the electrostatic interaction parameter is large compared to the thermal energy. The theory is applied to the acid-base titration of poly(A)·2 poly(U)