The interactions between complementary base pairs are crucial to the helical duplex structure of DNA. Although base-base interactions have been widely reported, the study of long-range interactions in the base-pairing processes is still a major challenge in this field. Here, we first study the long-range interactions between the base pairs by atomic force microscopy-based single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS). The SMFS results of A–T/C–G imply that there are weak long-range interactions between them, which have a range of 15–25 nm. Raman spectroscopy results imply that these weak interactions can be attributed to multiplex hydrogen bond interaction of ordered water structure between A–T/C–G nucleotides. In addition, the theoretical calculations deduce that the ideal structure of these water molecules exhibits a specific helical structure. Our findings might open up a new understanding of biological assembly processes and provide helpful strategies for bio-nanotechnology.

互补碱基对之间的相互作用对DNA的螺旋双链结构至关重要。尽管已经广泛报道了碱基-碱基相互作用，但是对碱基配对过程中的远程相互作用的研究仍然是该领域的主要挑战。在这里，我们首先通过基于原子力显微镜的单分子力谱（SMFS）研究碱基对之间的远程相互作用。A–T / C–G的SMFS结果表明它们之间存在较弱的远程相互作用，其相互作用范围为15–25 nm。拉曼光谱结果表明，这些弱的相互作用可以归因于A–T / C–G核苷酸之间有序水结构的多重氢键相互作用。此外，理论计算得出这些水分子的理想结构表现出特定的螺旋结构。