Motion of Knots in DNA Stretched by Elongational Fields
Name
PhysRevLett.120.188003.pdf
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1.31 MB
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Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Klotz, Alexander
Soh, Beatrice W
Doyle, Patrick S
Date Issued
May 2018
Journal
Physical Review Letters
Publisher
American Physical Society
Citation
Klotz, Alexander R. et al. "Motion of Knots in DNA Stretched by Elongational Fields." Physical Review Letters 120, 18 (May 2018): 188003 © 2018 American Physical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Knots in DNA occur in biological systems, serve as a model system for polymer entanglement, and affect the efficacy of modern genomics technologies. We study the motion of complex knots in DNA by stretching molecules with a divergent electric field that provides an elongational force. We demonstrate that the motion of knots is nonisotropic and driven towards the closest end of the molecule. We show for the first time experimentally that knots can go from a mobile to a jammed state by varying an applied strain rate, and that this jamming is reversible. We measure the mobility of knots as a function of strain rate, demonstrating the conditions under which knots can be driven towards the ends of the molecule and untied.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.188003
