Direct Determination of DNA Twist-Stretch Coupling
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-10-28 v1 q-bio
Abstract
The symmetries of the DNA double helix require a new term in its linear response to stress: the coupling between twist and stretch. Recent experiments with torsionally-constrained single molecules give the first direct measurement of this important material parameter. We extract its value from a recent experiment of Strick et al. [Science 271 (1996) 1835] and find rough agreement with an independent experimental estimate recently given by Marko. We also present a very simple microscopic theory predicting a value comparable to the one observed.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9611224,
title = {Direct Determination of DNA Twist-Stretch Coupling},
author = {Randall D. Kamien and Tom C. Lubensky and Philip Nelson and Corey S. O'Hern},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9611224},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Plain TeX file; uses harvmac and epsf; .ps also available at http://dept.physics.upenn.edu/~nelson/twiststretch.ps or http://dept.physics.upenn.edu/~nelson/twiststretch.ps.gz