Related papers: Experimental test of Sinai's model in DNA unzippin…
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…
We review statistical-mechanical theories of single-molecule micromanipulation experiments on nucleic acids. First, models for describing polymer elasticity are introduced. We then review how these models are used to interpret…
We present an extensive theoretical investigation of the mechanical unzipping of double-stranded DNA under the influence of an applied force. In the limit of long polymers, there is a thermodynamic unzipping transition at a critical force…
We study by using Monte Carlo simulations the hysteresis in unzipping and rezipping of a double stranded DNA (dsDNA) by pulling its strands in opposite directions in the fixed force ensemble. The force is increased, at a constant rate from…
A double stranded DNA molecule under the stress of a pulling force acting on the strand terminals exhibits a partially denatured structure or can be completely unzipped depending the magnitude of the pulling force. A scaling argument for…
We review the basic concepts and tools for mechanically unzipping RNA hairpins using force spectroscopy. By pulling apart the ends of an RNA molecule using optical tweezers, it is possible to measure the folding free energy at varying…
The two strands of the DNA double helix can be `unzipped' by application of 15 pN force. We analyze the dynamics of unzipping and rezipping, for the case where the molecule ends are separated and re-approached at constant velocity. For…
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…
DNA unzipping, the separation of its double helix into single strands, is crucial in modulating a host of genetic processes. Although the large-scale separation of double-stranded DNA has been studied with a variety of theoretical and…
We report studies of the equilibrium and the dynamics of a general set of lattice models which capture the essence of the force-induced or mechanical DNA unzipping transition. Besides yielding the whole equilibrium phase diagram in the…
The unzipping of a double stranded DNA whose ends are subjected to a time dependent periodic force with frequency $\omega$ and amplitude $G$ is studied using Monte Carlo simulations. We obtain the dynamical order parameter, $Q$, defined as…
We show how single-molecule unzipping experiments can provide strong evidence that the zero-force melting transition of long molecules of natural dsDNA should be classified as a phase transition of the higher-order type (continuous). We…
A theory of the unzipping of double-stranded (ds) DNA is presented, and is compared to recent micromanipulation experiments. It is shown that the interactions which stabilize the double helix and the elastic rigidity of single strands (ss)…
The unzipping transition under the influence of external force of a dsDNA molecule has been studied using the Peyrard-Bishop Hamiltonian. The critical force $F_c(T)$ is found to depend on the potential parameters $k$, represents the…
We unzip DNA molecules using optical tweezers and determine the sizes of the cooperatively unzipping and zipping regions separating consecutive metastable intermediates along the unzipping pathway. Sizes are found to be distributed…
We present a dynamical model of DNA mechanical unzipping under the action of a force. The model includes the motion of the fork in the sequence-dependent landscape, the trap(s) acting on the bead(s), and the polymeric components of the…
We investigate irreversibility and dissipation in single molecules that cooperatively fold/unfold in a two state manner under the action of mechanical force. We apply path thermodynamics to derive analytical expressions for the average…
Based on the result of an unzipping phase transition by a force in a model of DNA, we hypothesize that the DnaA-type proteins act as a pulling agent with a force slightly less than the critical force for unzipping. The dynamic (space-time)…
We model unzipping of DNA/RNA molecules subject to an external force by a spin-oscillator system. The system comprises a macroscopic degree of freedom, represented by a one-dimensional oscillator, and internal degrees of freedom,…
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…