title: Unzipping of DNA with correlated base sequence.
abstract: We consider force-induced unzipping transition for a heterogeneous DNA model with a correlated base sequence. Both finite-range and long-range correlated situations are considered. It is shown that finite-range correlations increase stability of DNA with respect to the external unzipping force. Due to long-range correlations the number of unzipped base pairs displays two widely different scenarios depending on the details of the base sequence: either there is no unzipping phase transition at all, or the transition is realized via a sequence of jumps with magnitude comparable to the size of the system. Both scenarios are different from the behavior of the average number of unzipped base pairs (non-self-averaging). The results can be relevant for explaining the biological purpose of correlated structures in DNA.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Theoretical Physics, Valckenierstraat 65, 1018 XE Amsterdam, The Netherlands. armena@science.uva.nl
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Allahverdyan
authors.forename: Zh S
authors.initials: ZhS
authors.lastname: Gevorkian
authors.forename: Chin-Kun
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Ming-Chya
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D020029:Base Pairing; D001483:Base Sequence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D004548:Elasticity; D016350:Leucine Zippers; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015233:Models, Statistical; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009711:Nucleotides / Q000737:chemistry*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013269:Stochastic Processes; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
chemical_list: D009711:Nucleotides; D004247:DNA