Fig. 7.

The radial distribution functions of nucleic atoms and metal ions for each system implicates short-range interactions with metal ions as responsible for the relatively higher level of stability observed in calcium-rich and zinc-rich simulations of F10 (a–b). Additionally, comparing radial distribution functions for phosphorous atoms – found only on the nucleic backbone – and metal ions (c–d) with radial distribution functions for fluorine atoms – found only on nucleic bases – suggests it is backbone interactions with zinc and calcium rather than nitrogenous base interactions with the metal ions that are responsible for this stability.