8.592 - HST.452J (Spring 2022)

Statistical Physics in Biology

Lecture 15

DNA denaturation (melting)

1. Macroscopic properties of DNA; packaging into chromatin (eukaryotes)
2. Discovery of DNA Structure and Function: Watson and Crick, L. Pray, Nature Education 1, 1 (2008).
   Microscopic structure of DNA; the four nucleotides;

   DNA Structure

   Importance of stacking interactions, binding energies
3. Denaturation, hybridization (similarity); renaturation (zippering)
4. (UV absorption) Melting curves for medium and long chains; general features and theoretical issues
5. The pair-stacking model; (Poland D & Scheraga HA. Theory of Helix-Coil Transitions in Biopolymers . Academic Press, New York, 1970.)
6. Theoretical analysis of homopolymer denaturation (presentation by David Mukamel at ITP)

(Lecture notes)