Optical anisotropy of oriented deoxyribonucleic acid films of different water content

Ultraviolet absorption and dichroism measurements on oriented films of calf thymus deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) at varying degrees of hydration show a structural hysteresis which occurs within a relative humidity of 0 to 65% RH. This hysteresis is interpreted on the basis of a model which assumes the existence of structure-stabilizing hydrogen water bridges in the DNA double helix.