Related papers: Pulling Pinned Polymers and Unzipping DNA
Single-molecule experiments provide new insights into biological processes hitherto not accessible by measurements performed on bulk systems. We report on a study of the kinetics of a triple-branch DNA molecule with four conformational…
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…
Using Monte Carlo simulations, we study the hysteresis in unzipping of a double stranded DNA whose ends are subjected to a time dependent periodic force with frequency ($\omega$) and amplitude ($G$). For the static force, i.e., $\omega \to…
DNA is now firmly established as a versatile and robust platform for achieving synthetic nanostructures. While the folding of single molecules into complex structures is routinely achieved through engineering basepair sequences, much less…
Forced desorption of a semiflexible polymer chain on a solid substrate is theoretically investigated. The pulling force versus displacement is studied for different adsorption energy and persistence length P. It is found that the…
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…
Single molecule manipulation techniques reveal that the mechanical resistance of a protein depends on the direction of the applied force. Using a lattice model of polymers, we show that changing the pulling direction leads to different…
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…
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…
The mechanism of threshold elongation (overstretching) of DNA macromolecules under the action of external force is studied within the framework of phenomenological approach. When considering the task it is taken into account that…
By exerting mechanical force it is possible to unfold/refold RNA molecules one at a time. In a small range of forces, an RNA molecule can hop between the folded and the unfolded state with force-dependent kinetic rates. Here, we introduce a…
While stretching of most polymer chains leads to rather featureless force-extension diagrams, some, notably DNA, exhibit non-trivial behavior with a distinct plateau region. Here we propose a unified theory that connects force-extension…
We use optical tweezers to perform stretching experiments on DNA molecules when interacting with the drugs daunomycin and ethidium bromide, which intercalate the DNA molecule. These experiments are performed in the low-force regime from…
A methodology for the statistical mechanical analysis of polymeric chains under tension introduced previously is extended to include torque. The response of individual bonds between monomers or of entire groups of monomers to a combination…
When mixed together, DNA and polyaminoamide (PAMAM) dendrimers form fibers that condense into a compact structure. We use optical tweezers to pull condensed fibers and investigate the decondensation transition by measuring force-extension…
Minuscule molecular forces can transform DNA into a structure that is elongated by more than half its original length. We demonstrate that this pronounced conformational transition is of relevance to ongoing experimental and theoretical…
The folding transition of biopolymers from the coil to compact structures has attracted wide research interest in the past and is well studied in polymer physics. Recent seminal works on DNA in confined devices have shown that these long…
We discuss theoretically the force F between two colloidal particles, each of them carrying one single strand DNA. The two strands are complementary only on a finite sequence of consecutive base pairs. We define an adjustment length (a few…
Negatively charged DNA can be compacted by positively charged dendrimers and the degree of compaction is a delicate balance between the strength of the electrostatic interaction and the elasticity of DNA. We report various elastic…
The melting of a homopolymer double-stranded (ds) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in the dilute limit is studied numerically in the presence of an attractive and impenetrable surface on a simple cubic lattice. The two strands of the DNA are…