Force induced stretched state: Effects of temperature

Sanjay Kumar, Garima Mishra

Published 2007-09-05, updated 2008-08-21Version 2

A model of self avoiding walks with suitable constraint has been developed to study the effect of temperature on a single stranded DNA (ssDNA) in the constant force ensemble. Our exact calculations for small chains show that the extension (reaction co-ordinate) may increase or decrease with the temperature depending upon the applied force. The simple model developed here which incorporates semi-microscopic details of base direction provide an explanation of the force induced transitions in ssDNA as observed in experiments.