Direct observation of large temperature fluctuations during DNA thermal denaturation

Nagapriya, K. S. ; Raychaudhuri, A. K. ; Chatterji, Dipankar (2006) Direct observation of large temperature fluctuations during DNA thermal denaturation Physical Review Letters, 96 (3). 038102_1-038102_4. ISSN 0031-9007

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Official URL: http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v96/i3/e038102

Related URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.038102

Abstract

In this letter, we report direct measurement of large low frequency temperature fluctuations in double stranded DNA when it undergoes a denaturation transition. The fluctuation, which occurs only in the temperature range where the denaturation occurs, is several orders more than the expected equilibrium fluctuation. It is absent in single stranded DNA of the same sequence. The fluctuation at a given temperature also depends on the wait time and vanishes in a scale of a few hours. It is suggested that the large fluctuation occurs due to coexisting denaturated and closed base pairs that are in dynamic equilibrium due to the transition through a potential barrier in the scale of 25-30kBT0 (T0=300 K).

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Source:Copyright of this article belongs to American Physical Society.
ID Code:6444
Deposited On:20 Oct 2010 10:23
Last Modified:16 May 2016 16:46

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