Direct Determination of the Equilibrium Unbinding Potential Profile for a Short DNA Duplex from Force Spectroscopy Data
Modern force microscopy techniques allow researchers to use mechanical forces to probe interactions between biomolecules. However, such measurements often happen in non-equilibrium regime, which precludes straightforward extraction of the equilibrium energy information. Here we use the work averaging method based on Jarzynski equality to reconstruct the equilibrium interaction potential from the unbinding of a complementary 14-mer DNA duplex from the results of non-equilibrium single-molecule measurements. The reconstructed potential reproduces most of the features of the DNA stretching transition, previously observed only in equilibrium stretching of long DNA sequences. We also compare the reconstructed potential with the thermodynamic parameters of DNA duplex unbinding and show that the reconstruction accurately predicts duplex melting enthalpy.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 15011546
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JRNL-204153; TRN: US0501323
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 85, Issue 20; Other Information: Journal published November 15, 2004; PBD: 4 May 2004
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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