Thermal conductivity of B-DNA

Abstract

The thermal conductivity of B-form double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) of the Drew-Dickerson sequence d(CGCGAATTCGCG) is computed using classical Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. In contrast to previous studies, which focus on a simplified 1D model or a coarse-grained model of DNA to improve simulation times, full atomistic simulations are employed to understand the thermal conduction in B-DNA. Thermal conductivity at different temperatures from 100 to 400 K are investigated using the Einstein Green-Kubo equilibrium and Müller-Plathe non-equilibrium formalisms. The thermal conductivity of B-DNA at room temperature is found to be 1.5 W/m$\cdot$K in equilibrium and 1.225 W/m$\cdot$K in non-equilibrium approach. In addition, the denaturation regime of B-DNA is obtained from the variation of thermal conductivity with temperature. It is in agreement with previous works using Peyrard-Bishop Dauxois (PBD) model at a temperature of around 350 K. The quantum heat capacity ($C_{vq}$) has given the additional clues regarding the Debye and denaturation temperature of 12-bp B-DNA.

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• Driving denaturation: Nanoscale thermal transport as a probe of DNA melting
• Tunable Thermal Switching via DNA-Based Nano Devices