Interaction of Terahertz Waves with the RNA Hairpin

The vibrations of low frequencies and the functional groups of nucleic acid molecules, hydrogen bonds, van der Waals, and other weak intermolecular interactions are in the THz band. Theoretically, nucleic acid molecules are capable of interacting with THz waves. The vacuum electron THz source can be used to study the interaction of THz waves with nucleic acids. This paper simulates the effect of the THz waves on the binding energy of the folded WT-30nt. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations show that the THz waves at 4 THz, 23.8 THz, and 37.4 THz can weakly affect the stability of WT-30nt, while the others cannot. This suggests that even THz waves with stronger amplitudes can rarely affect the binding ability of double-stranded RNAs by affecting hydrogen bonds, and it is estimated that THz waves would have difficulty affecting the stability of RNAs with more complex structures and more nucleotides.