Defect-facilitated buckling in supercoiled double-helix DNA

Sumitabha Brahmachari, Andrew Dittmore, Yasuharu Takagi, Keir C. Neuman, John F. Marko

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a statistical-mechanical model for stretched twisted double-helix DNA, where thermal fluctuations are treated explicitly from a Hamiltonian without using any scaling hypotheses. Our model applied to defect-free supercoiled DNA describes the coexistence of multiple plectoneme domains in long DNA molecules at physiological salt concentrations (≈0.1M Na+) and stretching forces (≈1pN). We find a higher (lower) number of domains at lower (higher) ionic strengths and stretching forces, in accord with experimental observations. We use our model to study the effect of an immobile point defect on the DNA contour that allows a localized kink. The degree of the kink is controlled by the defect size, such that a larger defect further reduces the bending energy of the defect-facilitated kinked end loop. We find that a defect can spatially pin a plectoneme domain via nucleation of a kinked end loop, in accord with experiments and simulations. Our model explains previously reported magnetic tweezer experiments [A. Dittmore et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 147801 (2017)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.119.147801] showing two buckling signatures: buckling and "rebuckling" in supercoiled DNA with a base-unpaired region. Comparing with experiments, we find that under 1 pN force, a kinked end loop nucleated at a base-mismatched site reduces the bending energy by ≈0.7 kBT per unpaired base. Our model predicts the coexistence of three states at the buckling and rebuckling transitions, which warrants new experiments.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number022416
JournalPhysical Review E
Volume97
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 28 2018

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
  • Statistics and Probability

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