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Updated: Oct 12, 2026

Analyzing and Building Nucleic Acid Structures with 3DNA
Published on: April 26, 2013
Analysis of conformational parameters in nucleic acid fragments. I. Single crystals of nucleosides and nucleotides
1Neutron Division, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Oxon, UK.
Abstract:
A study has been undertaken of conformational parameters in single crystal structures of nucleosides and nucleotides using the techniques of helical conformational analysis. A "quasi-helix" was generated from the geometry of base-paired structures, using published data extracted from the Cambridge structural database. A total of 54 base-pairs were found in these structures, for each of which were calculated hydrogen bond parameters, propeller twist, buckle and C1'-C1' separations. These were analysed according to various classifications. Propeller twists are found to show a wide range of values and the magnitude of twist appears to be unrelated to hydrogen bond parameters or C1'-C1' separation. The values of the buckle parameter vary over a smaller range of values and are unrelated to propeller twist magnitude. There is found to be a greater tendency to form homo-base-pairs among compounds containing adenine bases.
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