DNA confined in nanochannels: Hairpin tightening by entropic depletion

A theory is presented of the elongation of double-stranded DNA confined in a nanochannel based on a study of the formation of hairpins. A hairpin becomes constrained as it approaches the wall of a channel which leads to an entropic force causing the hairpin to tighten. The DNA in the hairpin remains double-stranded. The free energy of the...

The persistence length of double stranded DNA determined using dark field tethered particle motion

The wormlike chain model describes the micromechanics of semiflexible polymers by introducing the persistence length. We propose a method of measuring the persistence length of DNA in a controllable near-native environment. Using a dark field microscope, the projected positions of a gold nanoparticle undergoing constrained Brownian motion are...

Numerical simulation on the mechanical characteristics of double-stranded DNA under axial stretching and lateral unzipping

The mechanical characteristics of the long-chain double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) molecule under the axial stretching and lateral unzipping are studied by the clustered atomistic-continuum method (CACM). The CACM consisted of the clustered atom method (CAM) and the atomistic-continuum method (ACM). The CAM treats the specific atomic group as the...