51
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Muralidhar A, Dorfman KD. Backfolding of DNA Confined in Nanotubes: Flory Theory versus the Two-State Cooperativity Model. Macromolecules 2016. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.5b02556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Abhiram Muralidhar
- Department
of Chemical Engineering
and Materials Science, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, 421 Washington
Ave. SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
| | - Kevin D. Dorfman
- Department
of Chemical Engineering
and Materials Science, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, 421 Washington
Ave. SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
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52
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Swank Z, Deshpande S, Pfohl T. Trapping, entrainment and synchronization of semiflexible polymers in narrow, asymmetric confinements. SOFT MATTER 2016; 12:87-92. [PMID: 26437627 DOI: 10.1039/c5sm02304a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
The physical properties of polymeric actin facilitate many mechanical processes within the cell, including cellular deformation and locomotion, whereby the polymers can be confined to a range of different geometries. As actin polymers often form entangled solutions in the cell, we have investigated the effect of confinement on the evolution of entangled semiflexible polymer solutions. Using a microfluidic platform, we examined the physical dynamics of actin polymers confined within narrow (2-4 μm) rectangular channels. Focusing on the entanglement process of two actin polymers, we found that their prolonged entrainment leads to synchronized horizontal undulations and decreased translational diffusion. In the absence of cross-linking molecules or proteins, the long-range entrainment interactions are predominantly controlled by the geometric boundaries. We directly measure the deflection length Λ for an individual polymer, either solitarily confined within a channel or confined in the presence of a second filament, enabling the determination of the change in free energy associated with polymer entanglement. Our results indicate that geometrical confinement can serve as a solitary variable influencing the physical dynamics of entangled semiflexible polymers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoe Swank
- Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | | | - Thomas Pfohl
- Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
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53
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Smithe TSC, Iarko V, Muralidhar A, Werner E, Dorfman KD, Mehlig B. Finite-size corrections for confined polymers in the extended de Gennes regime. PHYSICAL REVIEW. E, STATISTICAL, NONLINEAR, AND SOFT MATTER PHYSICS 2015; 92:062601. [PMID: 26764718 PMCID: PMC4714778 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.92.062601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2015] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Theoretical results for the extension of a polymer confined to a channel are usually derived in the limit of infinite contour length. But experimental studies and simulations of DNA molecules confined to nanochannels are not necessarily in this asymptotic limit. We calculate the statistics of the span and the end-to-end distance of a semiflexible polymer of finite length in the extended de Gennes regime, exploiting the fact that the problem can be mapped to a one-dimensional weakly self-avoiding random walk. The results thus obtained compare favorably with pruned-enriched Rosenbluth method (PERM) simulations of a three-dimensional discrete wormlike chain model of DNA confined in a nanochannel. We discuss the implications for experimental studies of linear λ-DNA confined to nanochannels at the high ionic strengths used in many experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- T. St Clere Smithe
- Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, Origovägen 6B, 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
| | - V. Iarko
- Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, Origovägen 6B, 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
| | - A. Muralidhar
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, 421 Washington Avenue SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - E. Werner
- Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, Origovägen 6B, 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
| | - K. D. Dorfman
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, 421 Washington Avenue SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - B. Mehlig
- Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, Origovägen 6B, 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
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54
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Iarko V, Werner E, Nyberg LK, Müller V, Fritzsche J, Ambjörnsson T, Beech JP, Tegenfeldt JO, Mehlig K, Westerlund F, Mehlig B. Extension of nanoconfined DNA: Quantitative comparison between experiment and theory. PHYSICAL REVIEW. E, STATISTICAL, NONLINEAR, AND SOFT MATTER PHYSICS 2015; 92:062701. [PMID: 26764721 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.92.062701] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2015] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
The extension of DNA confined to nanochannels has been studied intensively and in detail. However, quantitative comparisons between experiments and model calculations are difficult because most theoretical predictions involve undetermined prefactors, and because the model parameters (contour length, Kuhn length, effective width) are difficult to compute reliably, leading to substantial uncertainties. Here we use a recent asymptotically exact theory for the DNA extension in the "extended de Gennes regime" that allows us to compare experimental results with theory. For this purpose, we performed experiments measuring the mean DNA extension and its standard deviation while varying the channel geometry, dye intercalation ratio, and ionic strength of the buffer. The experimental results agree very well with theory at high ionic strengths, indicating that the model parameters are reliable. At low ionic strengths, the agreement is less good. We discuss possible reasons. In principle, our approach allows us to measure the Kuhn length and the effective width of a single DNA molecule and more generally of semiflexible polymers in solution.
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Affiliation(s)
- V Iarko
- Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
| | - E Werner
- Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
| | - L K Nyberg
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
| | - V Müller
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
| | - J Fritzsche
- Department of Applied Physics, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
| | - T Ambjörnsson
- Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, Lund University, 22 100 Lund, Sweden
| | - J P Beech
- Department of Physics, Division of Solid State Physics, Lund University, 22 100 Lund, Sweden
| | - J O Tegenfeldt
- Department of Physics, Division of Solid State Physics, Lund University, 22 100 Lund, Sweden
- NanoLund, Lund University, 22 100 Lund, Sweden
| | - K Mehlig
- Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Gothenburg, 413 46 Göteborg, Sweden
| | - F Westerlund
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
| | - B Mehlig
- Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
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55
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Li B, Sun ZY, An LJ, Wang ZG. Influence of Topology on the Free Energy and Metric Properties of an Ideal Ring Polymer Confined in a Slit. Macromolecules 2015. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.5b02026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Bing Li
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry,
Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
| | - Zhao-Yan Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry,
Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
- Xinjiang
Laboratory of Phase Transitions and Microstructures in Condensed Matters,
College of Physical Science and Technology, Yili Normal University, Yining, 835000, China
| | - Li-Jia An
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry,
Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
| | - Zhen-Gang Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry,
Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
- Division
of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, United States
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56
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Sheats J, Reifenberger JG, Cao H, Dorfman KD. Measurements of DNA barcode label separations in nanochannels from time-series data. BIOMICROFLUIDICS 2015; 9:064119. [PMID: 26759636 PMCID: PMC4698118 DOI: 10.1063/1.4938732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2015] [Accepted: 12/14/2015] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
We analyzed time-series data for fluctuations of intramolecular segments of barcoded E. coli genomic DNA molecules confined in nanochannels with sizes near the persistence length of DNA. These dynamic data allowed us to measure the probability distribution governing the distance between labels on the DNA backbone, which is a key input into the alignment methods used for genome mapping in nanochannels. Importantly, this dynamic method does not require alignment of the barcode to the reference genome, thereby removing a source of potential systematic error in a previous study of this type. The results thus obtained support previous evidence for a left-skewed probability density for the distance between labels, albeit at a lower magnitude of skewness. We further show that the majority of large fluctuations between labels are short-lived events, which sheds further light upon the success of the linearized DNA genome mapping technique. This time-resolved data analysis will improve existing genome map alignment algorithms, and the overall idea of using dynamic data could potentially improve the accuracy of genome mapping, especially for complex heterogeneous samples such as cancer cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julian Sheats
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities , 421 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | | | - Han Cao
- BioNano Genomics , 9640 Towne Centre Drive Ste. 100, San Diego, California 92121, USA
| | - Kevin D Dorfman
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities , 421 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
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57
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Suma A, Orlandini E, Micheletti C. Knotting dynamics of DNA chains of different length confined in nanochannels. JOURNAL OF PHYSICS. CONDENSED MATTER : AN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS JOURNAL 2015; 27:354102. [PMID: 26291786 DOI: 10.1088/0953-8984/27/35/354102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Langevin dynamics simulations are used to characterize the typical mechanisms governing the spontaneous tying, untying and the dynamical evolution of knots in coarse-grained models of DNA chains confined in nanochannels. In particular we focus on how these mechanisms depend on the chain contour length, Lc, at a fixed channel width D = 56 nm corresponding to the onset of the Odijk scaling regime where chain backfoldings and hence knots are disfavoured but not suppressed altogether. We find that the lifetime of knots grows significantly with Lc, while that of unknots varies to a lesser extent. The underlying kinetic mechanisms are clarified by analysing the evolution of the knot position along the chain. At the considered confinement, in fact, knots are typically tied by local backfoldings of the chain termini where they are eventually untied after a stochastic motion along the chain. Consequently, the lifetime of unknots is mostly controlled by backfoldings events at the chain ends, which is largely independent of Lc. The lifetime of knots, instead, increases significantly with Lc because knots can, on average, travel farther along the chain before being untied. The observed interplay of knots and unknots lifetimes underpins the growth of the equilibrium knotting probability of longer and longer chains at fixed channel confinement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Suma
- SISSA, International School for Advanced Studies, via Bonomea 265, I-34136 Trieste, Italy
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58
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Li X, Schroeder CM, Dorfman KD. Modeling the stretching of wormlike chains in the presence of excluded volume. SOFT MATTER 2015; 11:5947-5954. [PMID: 26123827 DOI: 10.1039/c5sm01333j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
We propose an interpolation formula (the EV-WLC relation) for the force-extension behavior of wormlike chains in the presence of hard-core excluded volume interactions, analogous to the classic interpolation formula from Marko and Siggia for ideal wormlike chains. Using pruned-enriched Rosenbluth method (PERM) simulations of asymptotically long, discrete wormlike chains in an external force, we show that the error in the EV-WLC interpolation formula to describe discrete wormlike chains is systematically smaller than the error in the Marko-Siggia interpolation formula, except for the saturation region in which both formulas have the same limiting behavior. We anticipate that the EV-WLC interpolation formula will prove useful in the coarse-graining of wormlike chain models for dynamic simulations. Related results for the excess free energy due to excluded volume provide strong support for the physical basis of the Pincus regime.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaolan Li
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 421 Washington Ave. SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
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59
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Gupta D, Miller JJ, Muralidhar A, Mahshid S, Reisner W, Dorfman KD. Experimental evidence of weak excluded volume effects for nanochannel confined DNA. ACS Macro Lett 2015; 4:759-763. [PMID: 26664782 PMCID: PMC4671635 DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.5b00340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
We present experimental demonstration that weak excluded volume effects arise in DNA nanochannel confinement. In particular, by performing measurements of the variance in chain extension as a function of nanochannel dimension for effective channel size ranging from 305 nm to 453 nm, we show that the scaling of the variance in extension with channel size rejects the de Gennes scaling δ2X ~ D1/3 in favor of δ2X ~ D0 using uncertainty at the 95% confidence level. We also show how simulations and confinement spectroscopy can be combined to reduce molecular weight dispersity effects arising from shearing, photocleavage, and nonuniform staining of DNA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damini Gupta
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, 421 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - Jeremy J. Miller
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, 421 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - Abhiram Muralidhar
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, 421 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - Sara Mahshid
- Physics Department, McGill University, 3600 rue University, Montreal QC H3A 2T8, Canada
| | - Walter Reisner
- Physics Department, McGill University, 3600 rue University, Montreal QC H3A 2T8, Canada
| | - Kevin D. Dorfman
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, 421 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
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60
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Wang X, Tang M, Wang Y. Equilibrium Distribution of Semiflexible Polymer Chains between a Macroscopic Dilute Solution Phase and Small Voids of Cylindrical Shape. MACROMOL THEOR SIMUL 2015. [DOI: 10.1002/mats.201500029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyan Wang
- Department of Polymer Science and Engineering; College of chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Soochow University; 199 Ren-ai Road Suzhou 215123 P. R. China
| | - Meng Tang
- School of Electronic and Information Engineering; Soochow University; 1 Shi-zi Street Suzhou 215006 P. R. China
| | - Yanwei Wang
- Department of Polymer Science and Engineering; College of chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Soochow University; 199 Ren-ai Road Suzhou 215123 P. R. China
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61
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Werner E, Mehlig B. Scaling regimes of a semiflexible polymer in a rectangular channel. PHYSICAL REVIEW. E, STATISTICAL, NONLINEAR, AND SOFT MATTER PHYSICS 2015; 91:050601. [PMID: 26066107 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.91.050601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
We derive scaling relations for the extension statistics and the confinement free energy for a semiflexible polymer confined to a channel with a rectangular cross section. Our motivation is recent numerical results [Gupta et al., J. Chem. Phys. 140, 214901 (2014)] indicating that extensional fluctuations are quite different in rectangular channels compared to square channels. Our results are of direct relevance for interpreting current experiments on DNA molecules confined to nanochannels, as many experiments are performed for rectangular channels with large aspect ratios, while theoretical and simulation results are usually obtained for square channels.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Werner
- Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - B Mehlig
- Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
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62
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Muralidhar A, Dorfman KD. Kirkwood diffusivity of long semiflexible chains in nanochannel confinement. Macromolecules 2015; 48:2829-2839. [PMID: 26166846 PMCID: PMC4494130 DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.5b00377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
We compute the axial diffusivity of asymptotically long semiflexible polymers confined in square channels. Our calculations employ the Kirkwood approximation of the mobility tensor by combining computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations of the hydrodynamic tensor in channel confinement with pruned-enriched Rosenbluth method (PERM) simulations of a discrete wormlike chain model. Three key results emerge from our study. First, for the classic de Gennes regime, we confirm that Brochard and de Gennes' blob theory correctly predicts the scaling of the axial diffusivity, contrary to the conclusions of previous analyses. Second, for the extended de Gennes regime, we show that a modified blob theory, which has been used to incorporate the effect of local stiffness on DNA diffusion in nanoslits, explains the deviation from the prediction of classic blob theory for diffusion in nanochannels. Third, we provide a calculation similar to the modified blob theory to explain the relative insensitivity of the diffusivity to channel size for channels between the extended de Gennes regime and the Odijk regime, which is the most relevant regime for experiments and technological applications of DNA confinement in nanochannels. Our results are not only relevant to the dynamics of confined semiflexible polymers such as DNA, but also reveal interesting analogies between confinement in channels and slits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abhiram Muralidhar
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota –Twin Cities, 421 Washington Avenue SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - Kevin D. Dorfman
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota –Twin Cities, 421 Washington Avenue SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
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63
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Reinhart WF, Reifenberger JG, Gupta D, Muralidhar A, Sheats J, Cao H, Dorfman KD. Distribution of distances between DNA barcode labels in nanochannels close to the persistence length. J Chem Phys 2015; 142:064902. [PMID: 25681938 PMCID: PMC4327924 DOI: 10.1063/1.4907552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2014] [Accepted: 01/25/2015] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
We obtained experimental extension data for barcoded E. coli genomic DNA molecules confined in nanochannels from 40 nm to 51 nm in width. The resulting data set consists of 1 627 779 measurements of the distance between fluorescent probes on 25 407 individual molecules. The probability density for the extension between labels is negatively skewed, and the magnitude of the skewness is relatively insensitive to the distance between labels. The two Odijk theories for DNA confinement bracket the mean extension and its variance, consistent with the scaling arguments underlying the theories. We also find that a harmonic approximation to the free energy, obtained directly from the probability density for the distance between barcode labels, leads to substantial quantitative error in the variance of the extension data. These results suggest that a theory for DNA confinement in such channels must account for the anharmonic nature of the free energy as a function of chain extension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wesley F Reinhart
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 421 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - Jeff G Reifenberger
- BioNano Genomics, 9640 Towne Centre Dr., Ste. 100, San Diego, California 92121, USA
| | - Damini Gupta
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 421 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - Abhiram Muralidhar
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 421 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - Julian Sheats
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 421 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - Han Cao
- BioNano Genomics, 9640 Towne Centre Dr., Ste. 100, San Diego, California 92121, USA
| | - Kevin D Dorfman
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 421 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
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