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DNA Overstretching Transition: Ionic Strength Effects

Olli Punkkinen ^*, Per Lyngs Hansen , Ling Miao  and Ilpo Vattulainen ^* 

^* Laboratory of Physics and Helsinki Institute of Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, FI-02015 HUT, Finland; and Memphys-Center of Biomembrane Physics, Physics Department, University of Southern Denmark, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Ilpo Vattulainen, E-mail: ilpo.vattulainen{at}csc.fi.

As double-stranded DNA is stretched to its B-form contour length, models of polymer elasticity can describe the dramatic increase in measured force. When the molecule is stretched beyond the contour length, it further shows a highly cooperative overstretching transition. We have developed a theoretical description for this transition by coupling the two-state model and the elasticity theory proposed earlier by others. Furthermore, we have extended this model to account for monovalent salt effects on elastic moduli during the transition. We find that this theoretical description is in very good agreement with recent measurements for the salt dependence of the overstretching transition, allowing us to gain insight into the mechanisms that govern the transition. In double-stranded DNA, the effective length per unit charge varies with salt in agreement with the Manning and Poisson-Boltzmann models for thin polyelectrolyte rods, whereas the other model parameters describing structural features have barely any salt dependence. The results thus suggest that the electrostatic component of force-induced overstretching is mediated mesoscopically via elasticity.