The elastic theory of a single DNA molecule

Pramana

Yang Zhang¹  Haijun Zhou1¹  Zhang-Can Ou-Yang1 3¹ 

[1] Institute of Theoretical Physics, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2735, China$$

关键词: DNA;    elastic theory;    stacking interaction;    supercoiling;    hairpin-coil transition.;   

DOI  :  

学科分类：物理（综合）

来源: Indian Academy of Sciences

【 摘 要 】

We study the elastic responses of double- (ds) and single-stranded (ss) DNA at external force fields. A double-strand-polymer elastic model is constructed and solved by path integral methods and Monte Carlo simulations to understand the entropic elasticity, cooperative extensibility, and supercoiling property of dsDNA. The good agreement with experiments indicates that shortranged base-pair stacking interaction is crucial for the stability and the high deformability of dsDNA. Hairpin-coil transition in ssDNA is studied with generating function method. A threshold force is needed to pull the ssDNA hairpin patterns, stabilized by base pairing and base-pair stacking, into random coils. This phase transition is predicted to be of first order for stacking potential higher than some critical level, in accordance with experimental observations.

【 授权许可】

Unknown