Related papers: Shear Unzipping of DNA
As sections of a strand duplexed DNA denature when exposed to high temperature, the excess linking number is taken up by the undenatured portions of the molecule. The mechanical energy that arises because of the overwinding of the…
The experimental measurement of correlation functions and critical exponents in disordered systems is key to testing renormalization group (RG) predictions. We mechanically unzip single DNA hairpins with optical tweezers, an experimental…
The Peyrard-Bishop DNA model describes the molecular interactions with simple potentials which allow efficient calculations of melting temperatures. However, it is based on a Hamiltonian that does not consider the helical twist or any other…
We show that a mesoscale model, with a minimal number of parameters, can well describe the thermomechanical and mechanochemical behavior of homogeneous DNA at thermal equilibrium under tension and torque. We predict critical temperatures…
Under constant applied force, the separation of double-stranded DNA into two single strands is known to proceed through a series of pauses and jumps. Given experimental traces of constant-force unzipping, we present a method whereby the…
DNA unzipping by nanopore translocation has implications in diverse contexts, from polymer physics to single-molecule manipulation to DNA-enzyme interactions in biological systems. Here we use molecular dynamics simulations and a…
We have measured the temperature driven denaturing, or melting transition in poly d(A)-poly d(T) DNA oligomers of various lengths in different buffer conditions. Our findings are in clear disagreement with two state, reaction kinetics…
A theory for thermomechanical behavior of homogeneous DNA at thermal equilibrium predicts critical temperatures for denaturation under torque and stretch, phase diagrams for stable B--DNA, supercoiling, optimally stable torque, and the…
We use a master equation approach based on the Poland-Scheraga free energy for DNA denaturation to investigate the (un)zipping dynamics of a denaturation wedge in a stretch of DNA, that is clamped at one end. In particular, we quantify the…
DNA denaturation has long been a subject of intense study due to its relationship to DNA transcription and its fundamental importance as a nonlinear, structural transition. Many aspects of this phenomenon, however, remain poorly understood.…
We present a critique and extension of the mean-field approach to the mechanical pulling transition in bound polymer systems. Our model is motivated by the theoretically and experimentally important examples of adsorbed polymers and…
When exposed to strong shearing, the particles in a crystal will rearrange and ultimately, the crystal will break by forming large nonaffine defects. Even for the initial stage of this process, only little effort has been devoted to the…
We study the force-induced unfolding of random disordered RNA or single-stranded DNA polymers. The system undergoes a second order phase transition from a collapsed globular phase at low forces to an extensive necklace phase with a…
We propose a dynamical model for the secondary structure of DNA, which is based on the finite stacking enthalpies used in thermodynamics calculations. In this model, the two strands can separate and the bases are allowed to rotate…
Three coarse-grained models of the double-stranded DNA are proposed and compared in the context of mechanical manipulation such as twisting and various schemes of stretching. The models differ in the number of effective beads (between two…
We study unzipping of a complementary RNA-DNA helix applied to an external force, focusing on the force-force correlations. While at the microscopic level these are given by the sequence, the experiment measures effective, macroscopic…
The thermodynamical properties of heterogeneous DNA sequences are computed by path integral techniques applied to a nonlinear model Hamiltonian. The base pairs relative displacements are interpreted as time dependent paths whose amplitudes…
We introduce and test a method to predict the sequence of DNA molecules from in silico unzipping experiments. The method is based on Bayesian inference and on the Viterbi decoding algorithm. The probability of misprediction decreases…
When the DNA double helix is subjected to external forces it can stretch elastically to elongations reaching 100% of its natural length. These distortions, imposed at the mesoscopic or macroscopic scales, have a dramatic effect on…
The Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois (PBD) model of DNA denaturation, although successful in the description of melting profiles, fails to predict melting entropies, unzipping forces and dynamical properties, e.g. hairpin dynamics. The paper presents…