Interpretation of DNA Vibration Modes: IV - A Single-Helical Approach to Assign the Phosphate-Backbone Contribution to the Vibrational Spectra in A and B Conformations

A calculated approach based on the Higgs method for assigning the vibration modes of an infinite helicoidal polymeric chain has been performed on the basis of a reliable valence force field. The calculated results allowed the phosphate-backbone marker modes of the A and B forms, to be interpreted. In the dynamic models used, the bases have been omitted and no interchain interaction was considered. The calculation can also interprete quite satisfactorily the characteristic Raman peaks and infrared bands in the 1250-700 cm-1 spectral region arising from the sugar or sugar-phosphate association and reproduce their evolution upon the B----A DNA conformational transition. They clearly show that the phosphate-backbone modes in the above mentioned spectral region constitute the optical branches of the phonon dispersion curves with no detectable variation in the first Brillouin-zone.