Introduction the unique role of water in stabilizing

The dynamics of the hydration layer around a DNA molecule is extremely complicated, with effects from the confinement due to major and minor grooves, electric field effects from the negatively charged phosphate backbone and counterions, and the ability of the nucleic acid groups (G, C, A, T) to form rather strong HBs with water molecules, in addition to forming HBs among themselves. 

Different base pairs contain different atoms that are of different polarity. The environment faced by water molecules varies from groove to groove and from 

As in the ease of protein hydration, water moleeules again play a dual role. First and foremost, they provide stability to the observed nueleie aeid conformation. Second, they stabilize, often for a long duration, complexes with diverse proteins and intercalators. In the latter cases, localized ordered water molecules facilitate formation of specific nucleic acid stmctures around external molecules/groups [3]. The detailed structural morphology of the DNA hydration stmcture is illustrated in Appendix 10. A. 

As already emphasized, study of the hydration dynamics of DNA is complex. We need to understand both the group-specific and the base pair sequence-specific dynamics of water. 

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