Reply to "Comment on 'Characterization of the tunneling conductance across DNA bases' ".
Lagerqvist 's Comment regarding the calculation of the transverse conductance of a single-strand DNA heteropolymer translocated through a nanogap between two metal electrodes fully confirms the main conclusions of our study [Phys. Rev. E 74, 011919 (2006)]. In the absence of resonant tunneling, the sensitivity to geometrical factors and the uncertainty in the density functional theory model, which is used in our study and is the basis for the parametrization of the model used by Lagerqvist , raises doubt about the utility of static-bias measurements for DNA sequencing. A possible scheme discussed by Lagerqvist , the stabilization of geometry by an applied strong transverse voltage (1V) , is outside the applicability range of the near-equilibrium theory they (and we) used. More advanced theories and precise gap measurements are needed to resolve these issues.
Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P. O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
Radomir
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Zikic
Predrag S
PS
Krstić
X-G
XG
Zhang
Miguel
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Fuentes-Cabrera
Jack
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Wells
Xiongce
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Zhao