Table 1.

Comparison of the experimentally determined and predicted values of a and γ for different fragments

Fragment	Exp. a, nm	Predicted a from elemental set 2	Predicted a from elemental set 1	Exp. γ, bp/turn	Predicted γ from elemental set 2	Predicted γ from elemental set 1
HPL1	48.5	—	52.2	10.43	—	10.47
LPL1	48.0	—	39.5	10.53	—	10.45
HPL2	54.0	55.7	49.7	10.42	10.40	10.46
LPL2	45.5	43.9	45.8	10.58	10.55	10.48
λ DNA frag.	48.0	48.4	47.2	10.50	10.49	10.48
IS	49.5	49.4	45.8	10.50	10.49	10.48
SG1	48.5	49.1	46.1	10.455	10.46	10.47
602	47.9	48.5	46.6	—	—	—

The predictions are based on elemental sets 1 and 2 of 8 and 11 fragments, correspondingly. The measured values for λ DNA and IS (intrinsically straight) fragments were taken from ref. 3. The value of the bending rigidity for Widom’s fragment 602 (48), expressed over a in the table, was determined by fitting the computed j factor to the measurement assuming 11° and 15° bend angles in two A tracts of the fragment. The computations followed the procedure described in ref. 49.