Helical Disruptions in Small Loops of DNA
Abstract
The thermodynamical stability of DNA minicircles is investigated by means of path integral techniques. Hydrogen bonds between base pairs on complementary strands can be broken by thermal fluctuations and temporary fluctuational openings along the double helix are essential to biological functions such as transcription and replication of the genetic information. Helix unwinding and bubble formation patterns are computed in circular sequences with variable radius in order to analyze the interplay between molecule size and appearance of helical disruptions. The latter are found in minicircles with base pairs and appear as a strategy to soften the stress due to the bending and torsion of the helix.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1503.07983,
title = {Helical Disruptions in Small Loops of DNA},
author = {Marco Zoli},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1503.07983},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
International Conference on Mathematical Modeling in Physical Sciences, August 28-31, 2014, Madrid, Spain