Condensed Matter Physics, 2021, vol. 24, No. 3, 33603
DOI:10.5488/CMP.24.33603
arXiv:2107.11812
Title:
DNA thermal denaturation by polymer field theory approach: effects of the environment
Author(s):
 
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Yu. Holovatch
(Institute for Condensed Matter Physics, National Acad. Sci. of Ukraine, 79011 Lviv, Ukraine; 4 Collaboration & Doctoral College for the Statistical Physics of Complex Systems, Leipzig-Lorraine-Lviv-Coventry, Europe; Centre for Fluid and Complex Systems, Coventry University, Coventry, CV1 5FB, United Kingdom),
 
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C. von Ferber
( 4 Collaboration & Doctoral College for the Statistical Physics of Complex Systems, Leipzig-Lorraine-Lviv-Coventry, Europe; Centre for Fluid and Complex Systems, Coventry University, Coventry, CV1 5FB, United Kingdom),
 
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Yu. Honchar
(Institute for Condensed Matter Physics, National Acad. Sci. of Ukraine, 79011 Lviv, Ukraine; 4 Collaboration & Doctoral College for the Statistical Physics of Complex Systems, Leipzig-Lorraine-Lviv-Coventry, Europe; Centre for Fluid and Complex Systems, Coventry University, Coventry, CV1 5FB, United Kingdom)
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We analyse the effects of the environment (solvent quality, presence of extended structures - crowded environment) that may have impact on the order of the transition between denaturated and bounded DNA states and lead to changes in the scaling laws that govern conformational properties of DNA strands. We find that the effects studied significantly influence the strength of the first order transition. To this end, we re-consider the Poland-Scheraga model and apply a polymer field theory to calculate entropic exponents associated with the denaturated loop distribution. For the d = 3 case, the corresponding diverging ε = 4-d expansions are evaluated by restoring their convergence via the resummation technique. For the space dimension d = 2, the exponents are deduced from mapping the polymer model onto a two-dimensional random lattice, i.e., in the presence of quantum gravity. We also show that the first order transition is further strengthened by the presence of extended impenetrable regions in a solvent that restrict the number of the macromolecule configurations.
Key words:
DNA denaturation, Poland-Scheraga model, polymer networks, crowded environment
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