Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 018106 (2008) [4 pages]Denaturation Transition of Stretched DNAReceived 19 September 2007; published 9 January 2008 We generalize the Poland-Scheraga model to consider DNA denaturation in the presence of an external stretching force. We demonstrate the existence of a force-induced DNA denaturation transition and obtain the temperature-force phase diagram. The transition is determined by the loop exponent c, for which we find the new value c=4ν-1/2 such that the transition is second order with c=1.85<2 in d=3. We show that a finite stretching force F destabilizes DNA, corresponding to a lower melting temperature T(F), in agreement with single-molecule DNA stretching experiments. © 2008 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.018106
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.018106
PACS:
87.14.G−, 05.70.Fh, 64.10.+h, 82.37.Rs
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