Theoretical investigation of finite size effects at DNA melting

Theoretical investigation of finite size effects at DNA melting.

We investigated how the finiteness of the length of a sequence affects the phase transition that takes place at the DNA melting temperature. For this purpose, we modified the transfer integral method to adapt it to the calculation of both extensive (partition function, entropy, specific heat, etc.) and nonextensive (order parameter and average separation between paired bases) thermodynamic quan...

Experimental and theoretical studies of sequence effects on the fluctuation and melting of short DNA molecules.

Understanding the melting of short DNA sequences probes DNA at the scale of the genetic code and raises questions which are very different from those posed by very long sequences, which have been extensively studied. We investigate this problem by combining experiments and theory. A new experimental method allows us to make a mapping of the opening of the guanines along the sequence as a functi...

Size-dispersity effects in two-dimensional melting.

In order to investigate the effect of size dispersity on two-dimensional melting transitions, hard-disk systems with equimolar bidispersity are studied by means of particle dynamics simulations. From the nonequilibrium relaxation behaviors of bond-orientational order parameters, we find that (i) there is a critical dispersity at which the melting transition of the hexagonal solid vanishes and (...

An investigation of finite size scaling

Melting-point depression by insoluble impurities: a finite size effect.

Melting-point depression by soluble impurities is an entropy-driven phenomenon. Studying partially oxidized free sodium nanoparticles, we found an additional mechanism, which is caused by insoluble impurities. Oxidization of sodium clusters with 135-192 atoms by a single oxygen molecule causes a melting-point depression of 17+/-6 K; additional oxygen amplifies the effect. This is in contrast to...