Eur. Phys. J. E (2006) 19: 347-349
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2005-10062-2

Focus Point

A puzzle in DNA biophysics

¹ Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, 191 W. Woodruff Avenue, 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: 20 December 2005
Accepted: 30 January 2006
Published online: 13 February 2006

Abstract

In this issue, Lee et al. report the experimental temperature-dependence of the unzipping force for two natural DNA sequences. For both sequences, the curves show an anomaly at temperatures around 40 C. In this brief contribution, we stress that the anomaly is not easily explained within the established theoretical models for the biophysics of DNA. As this puzzle questions our basic understanding of DNA, it must be resolved, most likely by a combination of additional experiments and new theoretical work.