https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2004-10141-x
Regular Articles
Ionic effects on overstretching transition of B-DNA
Department of Civil Engineering, National University of Singapore, 119260, Singapore
* e-mail: g0202836@nus.edu.sg
Received:
1
July
2004
Accepted:
15
April
2005
Published online:
27
May
2005
A three-dimensional model is proposed herein to study the ionic effects of a NaCl solution on the overstretching transition of long B-DNA molecules. In this model, the bending deformations of DNA backbones, cooperativity of base-stacking interactions, electrostatic interactions, and spatial effects of the DNA double-helix structure are taken into account. The energy of electrostatic interactions is given as a function of the ionic strength and of the folding angle based on the Poisson-Boltzmann equation. An expression is derived, which shows that the overstretching force is linear with the natural logarithm of the ionic strength. The analytical results of this model are in good agreement with recently reported experimental results.
PACS: 61.25.Hq Macromolecular and polymer solutions; polymer melts; swelling – / 87.15.Aa Theory and modeling; computer simulation – / 87.15.La Mechanical properties –
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag, 2005
