title: DNA overstretching transition induced by melting in a dynamical mesoscopic model.
abstract: We present a phenomenological dynamical model describing the force induced melting as responsible for the DNA overstretching transition. The denaturation mechanism is developed under the framework of the mesoscopic one-dimensional Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois (PBD) picture which models the melting features of a polymer chain by means of a Morse potential and the stacking interaction. We find a good agreement with both the experimental overstretching curve and the asymmetric hysteretic properties with different simulation times. The comparison of the standard PBD model with a modification of the Morse potential which takes into account the interaction with the solvent has been also successfully investigated.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana Elisa Bergues
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Pupo
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Falo
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fiasconaro
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D005615:Freezing; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D008956:Models, Chemical; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D004247:DNA