An Analytic Theory for Single Molecule Manipulation of DNA
ORAL
Abstract
We introduce a minimal, analytically solvable model for thermomechanical behavior of DNA under tension and torque, and predict critical temperature for denaturation at unwinding and overwinding, phase diagrams for stable b--DNA, and supercoling-elongation curves as functions of applied torque, tension and temperature. Our results are in agreement with experimental data from experiments in single molecule manipulation. We also propose simple thermodynamical formulae for temperature, tension, torque, and supercoiling at criticality.
*This work was carried out under the auspices of the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy at Los Alamos National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52-06NA25396.
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