Effects of quantum vacuum fluctuations of the electric field on DNA condensation

• Authors: Alfredo Iorio , Samik Sen , Siddhartha Sen
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

By assuming that not only counter-ions but DNA molecules as well are thermally distributed according to a Boltzmann law, we propose a modified Poisson-Boltzmann equation, at the classical level, as a starting point to compute the effects of quantum fluctuations of the electric field on the interaction among DNA-cation complexes. The latter are modeled here as infinite one-dimensional wires (δ-functions). Our goal is to single out such quantum-vacuum-driven interaction from the counterion-induced and water-related interactions. We obtain a universal, frustration-free Casimir-like (codimension 2) interaction that extensive numerical analysis show to be a good candidate to explain the formation and stability of DNA aggregates. Such Casimir energy is computed for a variety of configurations of up to 19 DNA strands in a hexagonal array. It is found to be many-body.

Keywords

EN

quantum calculations; biomolecules; structure and physical properties; structure of aggregates

• Publisher: De Gruyter Open
• Journal: Open Physics
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 157-166

Dates

published

1 - 2 - 2011

online

24 - 9 - 2010

Contributors

author

Alfredo Iorio

• Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, V Holešovickach 2, 180 00, Prague 8, Czech Republic

author

Samik Sen

author

Siddhartha Sen

References

• [1] A. Iorio, S. Sen, S. Sen, Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 24, 323 (2010) http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S0217979210054919[Crossref]
• [2] W.M. Gelbart, R.F. Bruinsma, P.A. Pincus, V.A. Parsegian, Phys. Today 53, 38 (2000) http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1325230[Crossref]
• [3] F. Oosawa, Biopolymers 6, 1633 (1968) http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bip.1968.360061108[Crossref]
• [4] G.S. Manning, J. Chem. Phys. 51, 924 (1969) http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1672157[Crossref]
• [5] Y. Levin, Rep. Prog. Phys. 65, 1577 (2002) http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/65/11/201[Crossref]
• [6] A.Yu. Grosberg, T.T. Nguyen, B.I. Shklovskii, Rev. Mod. Phys. 74, 329 (2002) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.74.329[Crossref]
• [7] N.V. Hud, I.D. Vilfan, Annu. Rev. Bioph. Biom. 34, 295 (2005) http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.biophys.34.040204.144500[Crossref]
• [8] A.A. Kornyshev, S. Leikin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4138 (1999) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.4138[Crossref]
• [9] A.A. Kornyshev, D.J. Lee, S. Leikin, A. Wynveen, Rev. Mod. Phys. 79, 943 (2007) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.79.943[Crossref]
• [10] X. Qiu, K. Andresen, L.W. Kwok, J.S. Lamb, H.Y. Park, L. Pollack, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 038104 (2007) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.038104[Crossref]
• [11] H.M. Harreis, C.N. Likos, H. Löwen, Biophys. J. 84, 3607 (2003) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3495(03)75092-9[Crossref]
• [12] A.G. Cherstvy, A.A. Kornyshev, S. Leikin, J. Phys. Chem. B 106, 13362 (2002) http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp026343w[Crossref]
• [13] A.G. Cherstvy, J. Phys.-Condens. Mat. 17, 1363 (2005) http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/17/8/015[Crossref]
• [14] F. Oosawa, Polyelectrolytes, (Dekker, New York, 1971)
• [15] N. Grønbech-Jensen, R.J. Mashl, R.F. Bruinsma, W.M. Gelbart, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2477 (1997) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.2477[Crossref]
• [16] B.-Y. Ha, A. Liu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 1289 (1997) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.1289[Crossref]
• [17] R. Podgornik, V.A. Parsegian, Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 1560 (1998) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.1560[Crossref]
• [18] G. M. Grason, R. F. Bruinsma, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 027802 (2006) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.027802[Crossref]
• [19] G. M. Grason, R. F. Bruinsma, Phys. Rev. E 76, 021924 (2007) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.76.021924[Crossref]
• [20] R. Jackiw, Diverse Topics in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics (World Scientific, Singapore, 1995) http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/9789814261494[Crossref]
• [21] V.A. Parsegian, Van Der Waals Forces (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2006)
• [22] V.V. Nesterenko, G. Lambiase, G. Scarpetta, Riv. Nuovo Cimento 27N6, 1 (2004)
• [23] B.W. Ninham, V.A. Parsegian, Biophys. J. 10, 646 (1970) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3495(70)86326-3[Crossref]
• [24] A. Scardicchio, Phys. Rev. D 72, 065004 (2005) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.72.065004[Crossref]
• [25] S. Albeverio, S. Gesztesy, R. Hoegh-Krohn, H. Holden, Solvable Models in Quantum Mechanics (AMS Chelsea Publishing, Providence, 2000)
• [26] R.P. Feynman, A. Hibbs, Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals (McGraw Hill, New York, 1965)
• [27] P. Ramond, Field Theory: a modern primer (Addison-Wesley, Reading, 1989)
• [28] R.L. Jaffe, A. Scardicchio, J. High Energy Phys. 0506, 006 (2005) http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1126-6708/2005/06/006[Crossref]
• [29] M. Garcia-Viloca, J. Gao, M. Karplus, D.G. Truhlar, Science 303, 186 (2004) http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1088172[Crossref]
• [30] R. Penrose, The emperor’s new mind (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 1989)
• [31] E. Schrödinger, What is life (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1944)
• [32] H. Frölich, Phys. Lett. A 51, 21 (1975) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0375-9601(75)90300-X[Crossref]
• [33] A. Iorio, J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 174, 012036 (2009) http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/174/1/012036[Crossref]
• [34] A. Iorio, Neuroquantology 7, 552 (2009)

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/s11534-010-0037-5