title: Model for melting of confined DNA.
abstract: When DNA molecules are heated they denature. This occurs locally so that loops of molten single DNA strands form, connected by intact double-stranded DNA pieces. The properties of this "melting" transition have been intensively investigated. Recently there has been a surge of interest in this question, in part caused by experiments determining the properties of partially bound DNA confined to nanochannels. But how does such confinement affect the melting transition? To answer this question we introduce and solve a model predicting how confinement affects the melting transition for a simple model system by first disregarding the effect of self-avoidance. We find that the transition is smoother for narrower channels. By means of Monte Carlo simulations we then show that a model incorporating self-avoidance shows qualitatively the same behavior and that the effect of confinement is stronger than in the ideal case.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.affiliation: Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, Lund University, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reiter-Schad
authors.affiliation: Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, Lund University, Sweden.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ambjörnsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mehlig
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009691:Nucleic Acid Denaturation; D044367:Phase Transition
chemical_list: D004247:DNA