Abstract
Helices are expected to scatter circularly polarized light preferentially. According to theory, the scattering depends on the pitch, radius and sense of helix1–4; however, experimental data have been lacking. We now report quantitative measurements of the differential scattering of left and right circularly polarized light from the sperm head of the octopus Eledone cirrhosa. This sperm head is a left-handed helix with pitch and diameter of about 1 µm. It preferentially scatters left circularly polarized light versus right circularly polarized light in the forward direction, with a maximum differential scattering of 2% at 35° to the incident beam (wavelength = 0.442 µm). The preferential forward scattering of left circularly polarized light is consistent with theory1–4. As a differential scattering of 0.1% is easily measured, this can be a useful new method to characterize helical biological objects.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bustamante, C., Maestre, M. F. & Tinoco, I. Jr, J. chem. Phys. 73, 4273–4281 (1980).
Bustamante, C., Maestre, M. F. & Tinoco, I. Jr, J. chem. Phys. 73, 6046–6055 (1980).
Bustamante, C., Tinoco, I. Jr & Maestre, M. F. J. chem. Phys. 74, 4839–4850 (1981).
Bustamante, C., Tinoco, I. Jr & Maestre, M. F. J. chem. Phys. 76, 3440–3446 (1982).
Urry, D. W., Massoti, L. & Krivacic, J. Biochem. biophys. Res. Commun. 41, 521–524 (1970).
Schneider, A. S., Schneider, M. J. & Rosenheck, K. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 66, 793–798 (1970).
Maestre, M. F., Gray, D. M. & Cook, R. B. Biopolymers 10, 2537–2553 (1971).
Dorman, B. P. & Maestre, M. F. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 70, 255–259 (1973).
Reich, C., Maestre, M. F., Edmonson, S. & Gray, D. M. Biochemistry 19, 5208–5213 (1980).
Tinoco, Jr., I., Bustamante, C. & Maestre, M. F. A. Rev. Biophys. Bioengng 9, 107–141 (1980).
Maestre, M. F. & Reich, C. Biochemistry 19, 5214–5223 (1980).
Dorman, B. P., Hearst, J. E. & Maestre, M. F. Meth. Enzym. 27, 767–796 (1973).
Maxwell, W. L. Proc. R. Soc. B186, 181–190 (1974).
Tinoco, I. Jr, Bustamante, C. & Maestre, M. F. in Structural Molecular Biology: Methods and Applications (eds Davies, D. B., Saenger, W. & Danyluk, S. S.) (Plenum, New York, 1982).
Tikchonenko, T. I. Comprehensive Virol. 5, 1–117 (1975).
Black, L. W. & Silverman, D. J. J. Virol. 28, 643–655 (1978).
Sedat, J. & Manuelidis, L. Cold Spring Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 42, 331–350 (1977).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Maestre, M., Bustamante, C., Hayes, T. et al. Differential scattering of circularly polarized light by the helical sperm head from the octopus Eledone cirrhosa. Nature 298, 773–774 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/298773a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/298773a0
This article is cited by
-
Nucleation-mediated growth of chiral 3D organic–inorganic perovskite single crystals
Nature Chemistry (2023)
-
Circular intensity differential scattering and chromatin-DNA structure
Cell Biophysics (1987)
-
Current and Experimental Methods of Rapid Microbial Identification
Nature Biotechnology (1984)
-
Differential scattering of circularly polarized light as a unique probe of polynucleosome superstructures
Cell Biophysics (1983)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
