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Knotted folds induced by homochiral all-parallel (or all-antiparallel) double-helices

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Many biomolecules and their synthetic counterparts preferentially assemble into double-helices with a preferred handedness and parallelism, such as all-antiparallel, right-handed double-helical polymorphs of DNA and RNA favored under ambient conditions by Watson-Crick duplexing. We analyze knots formed by double-helices which are exclusively all-parallel (or exclusively all-antiparallel) and all right-handed (or all left-handed) . Most simpler knot enantiomers are unrealizable. Among the nearly 500 distinct knot enantiomers with up to 10 crossings, fewer than 10% can be formed by such double-helices. Simplest designs for the folding of admissible knot enantiomers via duplexing of complementary base pairs in single-stranded RNA (or DNA) are enumerated for those knots.

Source: PNAS Nexus

DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgag278

Authors: Stephen T Hyde, Myfanwy E Evans, Neave Taylor, Callum A R Metzke

Institutions: Australian National University, The University of Sydney, University of Potsdam, University of Oxford

Language: English

Topic: Geometric and Algebraic Topology

Subfield: Geometry and Topology

Field: Mathematics

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $4,202

OpenAlex ID: W7204170926

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