Conformations of Circular DNA
نویسندگان
چکیده
We examine the conformations of a model for short closed DNA. The molecule is represented as a cylindrically symmetric elastic string with a constraint corresponding to a specification of the linking number. We obtain analytic expressions for configuration, elastic energy, twist and linking number for a family of solutions spanning from a circle to a ’figure eight’. We suggest ways to use our construction to make other configurations and models relevant to studies of DNA structure. We estimate the effect of thermodynamic fluctuations.
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