Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Ensemble Force Spectroscopy by Shear Forces
Published on: July 26, 2022
Shear unzipping of DNA
Buddhapriya Chakrabarti1, David R Nelson
1Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA. buddho@polysci.umass.edu
Abstract:
We study theoretically the mechanical failure of a simple model of double-stranded DNA under an applied shear. Starting from a more microscopic Hamiltonian that describes a sheared DNA, we arrive at a nonlinear generalization of a ladder model of shear unzipping proposed earlier by deGennes [de Gennes, P. G. C. R. Acad. Sci., Ser. IV: Phys., Astrophys. 2001, 1505]. Using this model and a combination of analytical and numerical methods, we study the DNA "unzipping" transition when the shearing force exceeds a critical threshold at zero temperature. We also explore the effects of sequence heterogeneity and finite temperature and discuss possible applications to determine the strength of colloidal nanoparticle assemblies functionalized by DNA.
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