Attraction between DNA molecules mediated by multivalent ions

Details Attraction between DNA molecules mediated by multivalent ions Attraction between DNA molecules mediated by multivalent ions

2003-11-13

arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0311324v1

Physics

Condensed Matter

Soft Condensed Matter

51 pages and 13 figures

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevE.69.041904

The effective force between two parallel DNA molecules is calculated as a function of their mutual separation for different valencies of counter- and salt ions and different salt concentrations. Computer simulations of the primitive model are used and the shape of the DNA molecules is accurately modelled using different geometrical shapes. We find that multivalent ions induce a significant attraction between the DNA molecules whose strength can be tuned by the averaged valency of the ions. The physical origin of the attraction is traced back either to electrostatics or to entropic contributions. For multivalent counter- and monovalent salt ions, we find a salt-induced stabilization effect: the force is first attractive but gets repulsive for increasing salt concentration. Furthermore, we show that the multivalent-ion-induced attraction does not necessarily correlate with DNA overcharging.

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