Tops and writhing DNA

DOI10.1007/S10955-011-0175-1zbMATH Open1216.82065arXiv1011.6485OpenAlexW3103178415MaRDI QIDQ540591FDOQ540591

Joseph Samuel, Supurna Sinha

Publication date: 3 June 2011

Published in: Journal of Statistical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The torsional elasticity of semiflexible polymers like DNA is of biological significance. A mathematical treatment of this problem was begun by Fuller using the relation between link, twist and writhe, but progress has been hindered by the non-local nature of the writhe. This stands in the way of an analytic statistical mechanical treatment, which takes into account thermal fluctuations, in computing the partition function. In this paper we use the well known analogy with the dynamics of tops to show that when subjected to stretch and twist, the polymer configurations which dominate the partition function admit a local writhe formulation in the spirit of Fuller and thus provide an underlying justification for the use of Fuller's "local writhe expression" which leads to considerable mathematical simplification in solving theoretical models of DNA and elucidating their predictions. Our result facilitates comparison of the theoretical models with single molecule micromanipulation experiments and computer simulations.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1011.6485

zbMATH Keywords

writhethermal fluctuationstorsional elasticity of polymers

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Protein sequences, DNA sequences (92D20) Statistical mechanics of polymers (82D60)

Cites Work

• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Quantal phase factors accompanying adiabatic changes
• Helices
• Vector Calculus and the Topology of Domains in 3-Space
• Decomposition of the linking number of a closed ribbon: A problem from molecular biology
• Self-Linking and the Gauss Integral in Higher Dimensions
• The Writhing Number of a Space Curve
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• The writhe of open and closed curves

Cited In (1)

• Writhe induced phase transition in unknotted self-avoiding polygons

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