Methods Of Theoretical Physics & Their Applications To Biopolymer Science

The results obtained from, and techniques used in, different fields of science, such as mathematics, physics and biology are selected, gathered and analyzed to provide an introduction to the developing field of research into the nonlinear physics of DNA. The DNA molecule, which has been traditionally studied by techniques developed through molecular biology, is considered here rather from a physicist's viewpoint, as a nonlinear dynamical system. This is a complimentary way of looking at the molecule, and is arrived at following both a theoretical analysis of interactions and motions in DNA, and as a result of interpretation of experimental data. It is shown that this "nonlinear physics" approach allows one to explain some of the mechanisms of DNA functioning, and that it can offer possibilities in the study and interpretation of genetic codes. This text introduces all those involved in the study of the DNA molecule from a traditional, molecular biology viewpoint, to some of the results and developments which have been realized using a nonlinear physics approach, and should also allow biologists, biochemists and physicists to continue to develop non-traditional techniques of investigating the DNA molecule.