English

The thermal denaturation of DNA studied with neutron scattering

Statistical Mechanics 2011-02-02 v1 Biological Physics

Abstract

The melting transition of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), whereby the strands of the double helix structure completely separate at a certain temperature, has been characterized using neutron scattering. A Bragg peak from B-form fibre DNA has been measured as a function of temperature, and its widths and integrated intensities have been interpreted using the Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois (PBD) model with only one free parameter. The experiment is unique, as it gives spatial correlation along the molecule through the melting transition where other techniques cannot.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1101.1797,
  title  = {The thermal denaturation of DNA studied with neutron scattering},
  author = {Andrew Wildes and Nikos Theodorakopoulos and Jessica Valle Orero and Santiago Cuesta-Lopez and Jean-Luc Garden and Michel Peyrard},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1101.1797},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters