Wang Andrew, Zocchi Giovanni
Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Biophys J. 2009 Mar 18;96(6):2344-52. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2008.11.065.
We present a molecular system where polymerization is controlled externally by tuning the elastic energy of the monomers. The elastic energy, provided by a DNA molecular spring, destabilizes the monomer state through a process analogous to domain swapping. This energy can be large (of approximately 10 kT) and thus drive polymerization at relatively low monomer concentrations. The monomer-dimer equilibrium provides a measurement of the elastic energy of the monomer, which in this construction appears limited by kink formation in the DNA molecular spring, in accord with previous theoretical and experimental investigations of the elasticity of sharply bent DNA.
我们展示了一个分子系统,其中聚合反应通过调节单体的弹性能量在外部进行控制。由DNA分子弹簧提供的弹性能量,通过一个类似于结构域交换的过程使单体状态不稳定。这种能量可以很大(约为10 kT),因此能在相对较低的单体浓度下驱动聚合反应。单体 - 二聚体平衡提供了对单体弹性能量的一种测量,在这种结构中,这一能量似乎受到DNA分子弹簧中扭结形成的限制,这与之前关于急剧弯曲DNA弹性的理论和实验研究一致。