New Measurements of DNA Twist Elasticity
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-10-30 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 new material parameter. We extract its value from a recent experiment. We also present a very simple microscopic theory predicting a value comparable to the one observed. Finally we sketch the effect of constrained twist on entropic elasticity of DNA arising from the connection between Link, Twist, and Writhe.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9708107,
title = {New Measurements of DNA Twist Elasticity},
author = {Philip Nelson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9708107},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Plain TeX, harvmac, postscript available at http://dept.physics.upenn.edu/~nelson/index.shtml , Talk presented at the Workshop on DNA Topology, Rutgers University, April 1997.)