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Updated: Jun 20, 2025

Author Spotlight: Unraveling the Dynamics of Eukaryotic DNA Replication Through Single-Molecule Visualization
Published on: September 27, 2024
Large bubble drives circular DNA melting
Souradeep Sengupta1, Somendra M Bhattacharjee1, Garima Mishra1
1Department of Physics, Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana - 131029, India. garima.mishra@ashoka.edu.in.
Abstract:
We investigate the melting transition of non-supercoiled circular DNA of different lengths, employing Brownian dynamics simulations. In the absence of supercoiling, we find that melting of circular DNA is driven by a large bubble, which agrees with the previous predictions of circular DNA melting in the presence of supercoiling. By analyzing sector-wise changes in average base-pair distance, our study reveals that the melting behavior of circular DNA closely resembles that of linear DNA. Additionally, we find a marked difference in the thermal stability of circular DNA over linear DNA at very short length scales, an effect that diminishes as the length of circular DNA increases. The stability of smaller circular DNA is linked to the occurrence of transient small bubbles, characterized by a lower probability of growth.
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