English

Probing the mechanical unzipping of DNA

Soft Condensed Matter 2007-05-23 v2 Statistical Mechanics

Abstract

A study of the micromechanical unzipping of DNA in the framework of the Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois model is presented. We introduce a Monte Carlo technique that allows accurate determination of the dependence of the unzipping forces on unzipping speed and temperature. Our findings agree quantitatively with experimental results for homogeneous DNA, and for λ\lambda-phage DNA we reproduce the recently obtained experimental force-temperature phase diagram. Finally, we argue that there may be fundamental differences between {\em in vivo} and {\em in vitro} DNA unzipping.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0512487,
  title  = {Probing the mechanical unzipping of DNA},
  author = {N. K. Voulgarakis and A. Redondo and A. R. Bishop and K. O. Rasmussen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0512487},
  year   = {2007}
}