Hydration states and metallic intercalation effects in dry DNA Original Research Article

Temperature dependence of the complex dielectric constant at 16.3 GHz has been measured on dry poly(dA)–poly(dT) DNA with Na+ counterions under different relative humidity (RH). The rotational motion of sole water dipoles hydrated in PO2− is detected at low RH, and the collective motion due to water network in major groove is successfully observed at high RH. From the infrared (IR) spectroscopy in dry DNA introducing metallic ions (M-DNA), the symmetric and antisymmetric stretching bands of PO2− distinctly depend on RH and type of metallic ions. The IR spectral change indicates that the monovalent ions (Li and Na) are arranged in PO2− though the divalent and trivalent ions connect to the base molecules.