| Abstract: | The observed difference between the CD spectrum of B-DNA mononucleosomes and that of free DNA has been attributed to the tertiary structure of the core DNA. This conjecture is tested here. The tertiary structure is modeled as an optical system consisting of two identical, planar, linear retarders rotated with respect to each other. The retarders have the same linear birefringence and linear dichroism as oriented B-DNA. Such an optical system is circularly dichroic. The predicted wavelength dependence and magnitude of the CD are in reasonably close agreement with the experimental results. |
