dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaWrithing Geometry of Open DNA
| Authors | V. Rossetto, A. C. Maggs |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0301028 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0301028 |
| DOI | 10.1063/1.1569905 |
| Journal | Journal of Chemical Physics 118, 9864--9874 (2003) |
Abstract
Motivated by recent experiments on DNA torsion-force-extension characteristics we consider the writhing geometry of open stiff molecules. We exhibit a cyclic motion which allows arbitrarily large twisting of the end of a molecule via an activated process. This process is suppressed for forces larger than femto-Newtons which allows us to show that experiments are sensitive to a generalization of the Calugareanu-White formula for the writhe. Using numerical methods we compare this formulation of the writhe with recent analytic calculations.
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"abstract": "Motivated by recent experiments on DNA torsion-force-extension\ncharacteristics we consider the writhing geometry of open stiff molecules. We\nexhibit a cyclic motion which allows arbitrarily large twisting of the end of a\nmolecule via an activated process. This process is suppressed for forces larger\nthan femto-Newtons which allows us to show that experiments are sensitive to a\ngeneralization of the Calugareanu-White formula for the writhe. Using numerical\nmethods we compare this formulation of the writhe with recent analytic\ncalculations.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0301028",
"authors": [
"V. Rossetto",
"A. C. Maggs"
],
"categories": [
"physics.bio-ph",
"cond-mat.soft",
"physics.class-ph",
"q-bio"
],
"doi": "10.1063/1.1569905",
"journal_ref": "Journal of Chemical Physics 118, 9864--9874 (2003)",
"title": "Writhing Geometry of Open DNA",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0301028"
},
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