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Stretched, Twisted, Supercoiled and Braided DNA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

John F. Marko
John F. Marko*
Affiliation:
The University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Physics, 845 West Taylor Street, Chicago IL 60657
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Abstract

The DNA double helix is a semi-flexible polymer with twist rigidity. Its bending elasticity gives rise to entropie polymer elasticity, which can be precisely studied in single-molecule experiments. DNA's twist rigidity causes it to wrap around itself, or ‘supercoil’, when it is sufficiently twisted; thermal fluctuations destabilize supercoiling for DNAs twisted fewer than once per twist persistence length. Twisted DNAs under tension, braided DNAs, and the internal dynamics of supercoiled DNAs are discussed. The interplay between braiding and supercoiling free energy is argued to be important for the decatenation of duplicated DNAs in prokaryote cells.

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