Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Wang A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2907685 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Biophysical journal 20090301 6
We present a molecular system where polymerization is controlled externally by tuning the elastic energy of the monomers. The elastic energy, provided by a DNA molecular spring, destabilizes the monomer state through a process analogous to domain swapping. This energy can be large (of approximately 10 kT) and thus drive polymerization at relatively low monomer concentrations. The monomer-dimer equilibrium provides a measurement of the elastic energy of the monomer, which in this construction app ...[more]