Probing the mechanical unzipping of DNA

Abstract

A study of the micromechanical unzipping of DNA in the framework of the Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois model is presented. We introduce a Monte Carlo technique that allows accurate determination of the dependence of the unzipping forces on unzipping speed and temperature. Our findings agree quantitatively with experimental results for homogeneous DNA, and for $\lambda$-phage DNA we reproduce the recently obtained experimental force-temperature phase diagram. Finally, we argue that there may be fundamental differences between {\em in vivo} and {\em in vitro} DNA unzipping.

References in corpus (3)

• Theory of Bubble Nucleation and Cooperativity in DNA Melting
• Measurement of the Phase Diagram of DNA Unzipping in the Temperature- Force Plane
• Statistical Theory of Force Induced Unzipping of DNA

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Bubble Statistics and Dynamics in Double-Stranded DNA
• Thermal and mechanical properties of a DNA model with solvation barrier
• Role of loop entropy in the force induced melting of DNA hairpin
• Dependence on temperature and GC content of bubble length distributions in DNA
• Theoretical and Experimental Investigations of DNA Open States
• Distributions of Bubble Lifetimes and Bubble Lengths in DNA
• DNA breathing dynamics: Analytic results for distribution functions of relevant Brownian functionals
• Pulling short DNA molecules having defects on different locations
• Bubble lifetimes in DNA gene promoters and their mutations affecting transcription
• Dynamics of a bubble formed in double stranded DNA
• Unzipping of DNA under the influence of external fields
• Towards spectrally selective catastrophic response
• Temperature phase transition model for the DNA-CNTs-based nanotweezers