2002/10/30 by Paul Maragakis, Ryan Barnett, Ryan Lee Barnett +3 · 2 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #DNA and Nucleic Acid Chemistry #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Nanopore and Nanochannel Transport Studies #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.66.241104
published as Phys. Rev. B 66, 241104(R) (2002) · 4 pages
arxiv created 2002/10/30 · openalex publication_date 2002/12/31 · arxiv updated 2010/07/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Minuscule molecular forces can transform DNA into a structure that is elongated by more than half its original length. We demonstrate that this pronounced conformational transition is of relevance to ongoing experimental and theoretical efforts to characterize the conducting properties of DNA wires. We present quantum-mechanical calculations for acidic, dry, poly(CG)-poly(CG) DNA that has undergone elongation of up to 90% relative to its natural length, along with a method for visualizing the effects of stretching on the electronic eigenstates. We find that overstretching leads to a drastic drop of the hopping matrix elements between localized occupied electronic states, suggesting a dramatic decrease in the conductivity through holes.