Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.08.15.252643v1?rss=1 Authors: Kumar, A., Tagad, A., Patwari, G. N. Abstract: Ribose containing double-stranded nucleic acids exhibit helical structure, whereas sug-ar modified (xeno) nucleic acids may exhibit different structural features. The structural landscape of four stereo variants of furanosal nucleic acids and their C2' deoxy counter-parts, explored with molecular dynamics simulations, suggest that the configuration at the C3' position plays a pivotal role in determining the helicity. The C3' stereocentre acts as toggle-switch for the helix to ladder structural transformation by changing the nature of intra-strand interactions resulting in the optimal helices for ribose containing double-stranded nucleic acids. Interestingly, lack of chirality at the C2' position results in better quality helices than inversion of stereochemistry relative to ribose. The etiolo-gy of furanosal-RNA over other furanoses can be hypothesized based on the helical structure, which can effectively be exploited by the biological machinery. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info