Characterization of the tunneling conductance across DNA bases

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2006 · Physical Review E

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.74.011919· OSTI ID:978196

Zikic, Radomir ^[1]; Krstic, Predrag S ^[1]; Zhang, Xiaoguang ^[1]; Fuentes-Cabrera, Miguel A ^[1]; Wells, Jack C ^[1]; Zhao, Xiongce ^[1]

---

1. ORNL

Characterization of the electrical properties of the DNA bases, Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine and Thymine, besides building the basic knowledge on these fundamental constituents of a DNA, is a crucial step in developing a DNA sequencing technology. We present a first-principles study of the current-voltage characteristics of nucleotide-like molecules of the DNA bases, placed in a 1.5 nm gap formed between gold nanoelectrodes. The quantum transport calculations in the tunneling regime are shown to vary strongly with the electrode-molecule geometry and the choice of the DFT exchangecorrelation functionals. Analysis of the results in the zero-bias limit indicates that distinguishable current-voltage characteristics of different DNA bases are dominated by the geometrical conformations of the bases and nanoelectrodes.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). National Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS)
• Sponsoring Organization: Work for Others (WFO); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 978196
• Journal Information: Physical Review E, Vol. 74
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
CYTOSINE
DNA
DNA SEQUENCING
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
FUNCTIONALS
GEOMETRY
GOLD
GUANINE
THYMINE
TRANSPORT
TUNNELING
computational materials science
nanoscale charge transport
DNA sequencing