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Statistical mechanics of supercoils and the torsional stiffness of the DNA double helix

Nature volume 280, pages 294–298 (1979)Cite this article

Abstract

The distribution of closed unknotted polymer chains over the writhing number is calculated by the Monte-Carlo method. For circular duplex DNA the variance of the distribution equals approximately half the observed variance of equilibrium distribution over the linking number. The balance which arises from fluctuations in DNA twisting makes it possible to estimate the torsional stiffness of the double helix.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Molecular Genetics, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, 123182, USSR

    A. V. Vologodskii, V. V. Anshelevich, A. V. Lukashin & M. D. Frank-Kamenetskii

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  1. A. V. Vologodskii
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  2. V. V. Anshelevich
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  3. A. V. Lukashin
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  4. M. D. Frank-Kamenetskii
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Vologodskii, A., Anshelevich, V., Lukashin, A. et al. Statistical mechanics of supercoils and the torsional stiffness of the DNA double helix. Nature 280, 294–298 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/280294a0

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