Related papers: Local compression properties of double-stranded DN…
The mechanical properties of DNA are typically described by elastic theories with purely local couplings (on-site models). We discuss and analyze coarse-grained (oxDNA) and all-atom simulations, which indicate that in DNA distal sites are…
Mechanical properties of nucleic acids play an important role in many biological processes which often involve physical deformations of these molecules. At sufficiently long length scales (say above $\sim 20-30$ base pairs) the mechanics of…
Double-stranded DNA `overstretches' at a pulling force of about 65 pN, increasing in length by a factor of 1.7. The nature of the overstretched state is unknown, despite its considerable importance for DNA's biological function and…
Solid state nanopores have emerged as powerful tools for single-molecule sensing, yet the rapid uncontrolled translocation of the molecule through the pore remains a key limitation. We have previously demonstrated that an active…
A simple model of DNA based on two interacting polymers has been used to study the unzipping of a double stranded DNA subjected to a periodic force. We propose a dynamical transition, where without changing the physiological condition, it…
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…
We study DNA self-assembly and DNA computation using a coarse-grained DNA model within the directional dynamic bonding framework {[}C. Svaneborg, Comp. Phys. Comm. 183, 1793 (2012){]}. In our model, a single nucleotide or domain is…
We study the effects of the shear force on the rupture mechanism on a double stranded DNA. Motivated by recent experiments, we perform the atomistic simulations with explicit solvent to obtain the distributions of extension in hydrogen and…
Nanochannels provide means for detailed experiments on the effect of confinement on biomacromolecules, such as DNA. We here introduce a model for the complete unfolding of DNA from the circular to linear configuration. Two main ingredients…
Molecular motor proteins form the basis of cellular dynamics. Recently, notable efforts have led to the creation of their DNA-based mimics, which can carry out complex nanoscale motion. However, such functional analogues have not yet been…
The denaturation of double-stranded DNA as function of force and temperature is discussed. At room temperature, sequence heterogeneity dominates the physics of single molecule force-extension curves starting about 7 piconewtons of below a…
The article demonstrates a technique for fabricating a structure with the inclusion of suspended DNA threads and manipulating them using composite nanotweezers with shape memory effect. This technique could be suitable for stretching of…
Recent advances in operating and manipulating DNA have provided unique experimental possibilities in many fields of DNA research, especially in gene therapy. Researchers have deployed many techniques, experimental and theoretical, to study…
Biological information is not only stored in the digital chemical sequence of double helical DNA, but is also encoded in the mechanical properties of the DNA strands, which can influence biochemical processes involving its readout. For…
We study a class of micromanipulation experiments, exemplified by the pulling apart of the two strands of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). When the pulling force is increased to a critical value, an ``unzipping'' transition occurs. For random…
Nucleic acids have been regarded as stiff polymers with long-range flexibility and generally modeled using elastic rod models of polymer physics. Notwithstanding, investigations carried out over the past few years on single fragments of…
The properties of polymeric nanofibers can be tailored and enhanced by properly managing the structure of the polymeric molecules at the nanoscale. Although electrospun polymer fibers are increasingly exploited in many technological…
We present a self-contained theory for the mechanical response of DNA in single molecule experiments. Our model is based on a 1D continuum description of the DNA molecule and accounts both for its elasticity and for DNA-DNA electrostatic…
The stability and dynamics of a double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) is affected by the preferential occupancy of small monovalent molecular ions. Small metal and molecular ions such as sodium and alkyl ammonium have crucial biological functions in…
The recently proposed compressed backbone theory suggested that the intrinsic curvature in DNA can result from a geometric mismatch between the specific backbone length and optimal base stacking orientations. It predicted that the curvature…