2023/10/09 by R. P. Dengler, Dengler, R.
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #DNA and Nucleic Acid Chemistry #FOS: Physical sciences #RNA Research and Splicing #RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2310.06126
openalex publication_date 2023/10/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This work examines field theories for RNA-like polymers with single strand and double strand polymers and a periodic base sequence. These field theories originate from lattice models, describe polymers in a good solvent, and in principle exactly describe the critical behavior. A central role is played by the conventional one-component branched polymer and the mapping of the corresponding field theory to the Lee-Yang field theory in two less dimensions. Critical phenomena in the context of polymers as well as the Lee-Yang model entail pecularities, which we derive in detail. A new result is that the critical point of RNA-like branched polymers (with periodic base sequence) looks like the critical point of the classical one-component branched polymer, but with one more critical exponent for the single strand polymer. A random base sequence generates additional relevant interactions, and invalidates the simple picture.