Related papers: Comment on "Why is the DNA denaturation transition…
We study the static and dynamical properties of DNA in the vicinity of its melting transition, i.e. the separation of the two strands upon heating. The investigation is based on a simple mechanical model which includes the helicoidal…
The authors measure the persistence and contour lengths of DNA-psoralen complexes, as a function of psoralen concentration, for intercalated and crosslinked complexes. In both cases, the persistence length monotonically increases until a…
The strong bending of polymers is poorly understood. We propose a general quantitative framework of polymer bending that includes both the weak and strong bending regimes on the same footing, based on a single general physical principle. As…
A model of self-avoiding walk with suitable constraints on self-attraction is developed to describe the conformational behavior of a short RNA or a single stranded DNA molecule that forms hairpin structure and calculate the properties…
Recent theoretical predictions on DNA mechanical separation induced by pulling forces are numerically tested within a model in which self-avoidance for DNA strands is fully taken into account. DNA strands are described by interacting pairs…
The flexibility of short DNA chains is investigated via computation of the average correlation function between dimers which defines the persistence length. Path integration techniques have been applied to confine the phase space available…
We discuss possible mechanisms that may impact the order of the transition between denaturated and bound DNA states and lead to changes in the scaling laws that govern conformational properties of DNA strands. To this end, we re-consider…
In condensed matter physics, simplified descriptions are obtained by coarse-graining the features of a system at a certain characteristic length, defined as the typical length beyond which some properties are no longer correlated. From a…
While analyzing the persistence length of DNA atomistic simulations Wu et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 142, 125103 (2015)] introduced an empirical formula to account for the observed length-dependence. In particular they found that the persistence…
DNA is subject to large deformations in a wide range of biological processes. Two key examples illustrate how such deformations influence the readout of the genetic information: the sequestering of eukaryotic genes by nucleosomes, and DNA…
For the DNA denaturation transition in the presence of random contact energies, or equivalently the disordered wetting transition, we introduce a Strong Disorder Renewal Approach to construct the optimal contacts in each disordered sample…
Single molecule experiments on B-DNA stretching have revealed one or two structural transitions, when increasing the external force. They are characterized by a sudden increase of DNA contour length and a decrease of the bending rigidity.…
Numerous experiments on charge transfer in DNA yield a contradictory picture of the transfer: on the one hand they suggest that it is a very slow process and the charge is almost completely localized on one Watson-Crick pair, but on the…
At present, there have been suggested two types of physical mechanism that may facilitate preferential pairing between DNA molecules, with identical or similar base pair texts, without separation of base pairs. One solely relies on base…
The competition between toroidal and rod-like conformations as possible ground states for DNA condensation is studied as a function of the stiffness, the length of the DNA and the form of the long-range interactions between neighboring…
The linking number (topological entanglement) and the writhe (geometrical entanglement) of a model of circular double stranded DNA undergoing a thermal denaturation transition are investigated by Monte Carlo simulations. By allowing the…
In this paper, we develop the theory for constructing DNA cyclic codes of odd length over $R=\Z_4[u]/\langle u^2-1 \rangle$ based on the deletion distance. Firstly, we relate DNA pairs with a special 16 elements of ring $R$. Cyclic codes of…
Test experiments of hybridization in DNA microarrays show systematic deviations from the equilibrium isotherms. We argue that these deviations are due to the presence of a partially hybridized long-lived state, which we include in a kinetic…
We generalize the Poland-Scheraga (PS) model to the case of a circular DNA, taking into account the twisting of the two strains around each other. Guided by recent single-molecule experiments on DNA strands, we assume that the torsional…
The extension of DNA confined to nanochannels has been studied intensively and in detail. Yet quantitative comparisons between experiments and model calculations are difficult because most theoretical predictions involve undetermined…