Publication: Shear Unzipping of DNA
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Date
2009
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American Chemical Society
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Citation
Chakrabarti, Buddhapriya and David Nelson. 2009. Shear unzipping of DNA. Journal of Physical Chemistry B 113(12): 3831-3836.
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Abstract
We study theoretically the mechanical failure of a simple model of double stranded DNA under an applied shear. Starting from a more microscopic Hamiltonian that describes a sheared DNA, we arrive at a nonlinear generalization of a ladder model of shear unzipping proposed earlier by deGennes [deGennes P. G. C. R. Acad. Sci., Ser. IV; Phys., Astrophys. 2001, 1505]. Using this model and a combination of analytical and numerical methods, we study the DNA "unzipping" transition when the shearing force exceeds a critical threshold at zero temperature. We also explore the effects of sequence heterogeneity and finite temperature and discuss possible applications to determine the strength of colloidal nanoparticle assemblies functionalized by DNA.
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Keywords
nanoparticles
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