https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2005-10061-3
Focus Point
Dynamics of intramolecular recognition: Base-pairing in DNA/RNA near and far from equilibrium
1
Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, 43210-1117, Columbus, OH, USA
2
Arnold-Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics and Center for Nanoscience (CeNS), LMU München, Theresienstrasse 37, 80333, München, Germany
* e-mail: bundschuh@mps.ohio-state.edu
Received:
8
August
2005
Accepted:
30
January
2006
Published online:
7
March
2006
The physics of the base-pairing interaction in DNA and RNA molecules plays a fundamental role in biology. Past experimental and theoretical research has led to a fairly complete and quantitative understanding of the equilibrium properties such as the different phases, the melting behavior, and the response to slow stretching. The non-equilibrium behavior is even richer than might be expected on the basis of thermodynamics. However, the non-equilibrium behavior is also far less understood. Here, we review different theoretical approaches to the study of base-pairing thermodynamics and kinetics, and illustrate the rich phenomenology with several examples that use these approaches.
PACS: 87.15.Cc Folding and sequence analysis – / 87.15.He Dynamics and conformational changes – / 87.14.Gg DNA, RNA –
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag, 2006