Program

O.6 -- Oral, IWTCP-3

Date: Tuesday, 28 July 2015

Time: 11h40 - 12h00

Modeling DNA condensates with generalized elastic potential

Trinh X. Hoang (1), Hoa Lan Trinh (1), Achille Giacometti (2), Rudolf Podgornik (3,4), Jayanth R. Banavar (5), and Amos Maritan (6)

(1) Institute of Physics, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam; (2) Dipartimento di Scienze Molecolari e Nanosistemi, Facolta di Science, Universita Ca Foscari Venezia, I-30123 Venezia, Italy; (3) J. Stefan Institute and Department of Physics, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia, EU; (4) Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA; (5) Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA; (6) Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

For several decades, DNA condensates have challenged scientists with fundamental questions about their sizes and shapes. In particular, DNA toroids with varying sizes and thickness to diameter ratios have been observed. On the other hand, the non-linear elasticity of DNA at short length scales, comparable to that of DNA persistence length, is still not well understood. In this study, we demonstrate that these two issues are related in a remarkable way - the microscopic details of the non-linear elasticity has a direct impact on the geometrical features of DNA toroids at macroscopic observable scales. With a novel generalized form of the worm-like chain model, we study the effects of non-linear elasticity on the phase diagram of the ground states as well as on geometrical features of DNA condensates. The model provides a simple explanation for the results of prior experimental and computational studies and makes predictions for the specific geometries of the ground states.

Presenter: Trinh Xuan Hoang