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Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Combining Single-molecule Manipulation and Imaging for the Study of Protein-DNA Interactions
Published on: August 27, 2014
Self-trapping versus trapping: application to hole transport in DNA
1Department of Chemistry, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA. basko@chem.rochester.edu
Abstract:
We address the problem of interplay between self-trapping effects and effects of an external potential, which may be relevant for many physical systems, such as polarons in solids or a Bose-Einstein condensate with attraction. If the potential consists of two different wells, the system initially localized in the shallower well may relax into the deeper well, or may not if stabilized by the self-trapping effect. We show how this picture can be applied to interpret results of recent experiments on electron transfer in the DNA molecule [Giese et al., Nature 412, 318 (2001)]. The results of our calculations agree well with the experimental findings, giving evidence that hole transport in DNA involves polaronic effects.
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