Building up DNA, bit by bit: a simple description of chain assembly

We simulate the assembly of DNA copolymers from two types of short duplexes (short double strands with a single-stranded overhang at each end), as described by the oxDNA model. We find that the statistics of chain lengths can be well reproduced by a simple theory that treats the association of parti...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Foffi, Riccardo (author)
Other Authors: SCIORTINO, Francesco (author), Tavares, Jose (author), Teixeira, Paulo (author)
Format: article
Language:eng
Published: 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/14031
Country:Portugal
Oai:oai:repositorio.ipl.pt:10400.21/14031
Description
Summary:We simulate the assembly of DNA copolymers from two types of short duplexes (short double strands with a single-stranded overhang at each end), as described by the oxDNA model. We find that the statistics of chain lengths can be well reproduced by a simple theory that treats the association of particles into ideal (i.e., non-interacting) clusters as a reversible chemical reaction. The reaction constants can be predicted either from SantaLucia's theory or from Wertheim's thermodynamic perturbation theory of association for spherical patchy particles. Our results suggest that theories incorporating very limited molecular detail may be useful for predicting the broad equilibrium features of copolymerisation.