(Recieved : September 20, 1994; Accepted for publication : November 21, 1994)
A new quantity, stickiness, was proposed that enables us to deal quantitatively with interactions between a macromolecule (e.g., DNA) and a ligand (e.g., oligonucleotide) and gives an image of global/local effects in molecular interactions. Pseudostickiness, its manageable version based on binding constant, was calculated and applied to an analysis of lambda DNA sequence, revealing some characteristics of the lambda genome. The utility of stickiness in understanding specific interactions of biomolecules is also discussed.
Keywords: Stickiness, Macromolecule-interaction, Oligonucleotide, Lambda phage DNA, Local structure