Electrostatics of a Tetra-Stranded Polymer: Ionic Condensation and Nonlinear Screening
| dc.contributor.author | Barack Ndenga | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-12-24T08:39:45Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-12-24 | |
| dc.description | This work develops a dedicated electrostatic framework for a canonical tetra-stranded hereditary polymer (Q-DNA), addressing the principal physical limitation of four-strand genome architectures: electrostatic repulsion between multiple negatively charged backbones. Extending nonlinear Poisson–Boltzmann theory and ion-correlation models to tetra-stranded geometries, the manuscript analyzes how electrostatic interactions scale beyond duplex DNA and identifies regimes where mean-field screening breaks down. The study highlights the central role of multivalent cations, polyamines, solvent dielectric properties, and molecular crowding in stabilizing tetra-stranded assemblies through counterion condensation, correlation-induced attraction, and effective ion bridging. It predicts distinct ionic fingerprints for tetra-stranded states and defines electrostatic stability windows in which four-strand architectures become energetically favorable relative to duplex DNA. By formalizing electrostatics as a gating constraint on tetra-stranded heredity, this contribution provides quantitative and testable criteria for evaluating Q-DNA feasibility in synthetic genetics, controlled in-vitro systems, and alternative biochemical environments relevant to origins-of-life and astrobiology research. Resource type: theoretical manuscript / electrostatic model Intended audience: molecular biophysics, theoretical biology, synthetic genetics, and polyelectrolyte physics communities | |
| dc.description.abstract | The principal physical limitation of a canonical tetra-stranded genome is electrostatics. Bringing four negatively charged polymer backbones into close proximity imposes a severe energetic penalty that cannot be addressed by local bonding alone. In this work, I develop an electrostatic framework for Q-DNA, extending classical Poisson–Boltzmann descriptions and ion-correlation theories to a four-strand geometry. I analyze how multivalent cations, polyamines, and molecular crowding reshape the electrostatic free-energy landscape and can induce effective attraction between strands. I predict distinct ionic signatures and identify environmental regimes in which tetra-stranded architectures become electrostatically favorable relative to duplex DNA. This analysis establishes electrostatics as the dominant gatekeeper for the existence of canonical four-stranded genomes. Keywords: Q-DNA, electrostatics, Poisson–Boltzmann theory, ion condensation, multivalent cations, molecular crowding | |
| dc.description.provenance | Submitted by Barack Ndenga (ndengabarack@gmail.com) on 2025-12-24T08:39:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 93rd .pdf: 318172 bytes, checksum: 11f3e511d3fbb1afb6d28732b2087c6c (MD5) | en |
| dc.description.provenance | Made available in DSpace on 2025-12-24T08:39:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 93rd .pdf: 318172 bytes, checksum: 11f3e511d3fbb1afb6d28732b2087c6c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2025-12-24 | en |
| dc.description.sponsorship | None | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/10665 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Publisher | |
| dc.title | Electrostatics of a Tetra-Stranded Polymer: Ionic Condensation and Nonlinear Screening | |
| dc.type | Article |
