Mechanical response of double-stranded DNA to dynamic excitation

Abstract

The present work investigates the vibrational properties of a DNA-like structure by means of a harmonic Hamiltonian and the Green’s function formalism. The DNA sequence is considered as a quasi one-dimensional system in which the mass-spring pairs are randomly distributed inside each crystalline unit. The sizes of the units inside the system are increased, in a step-by-step approach, so that the actual condition of the DNA could be modeled more accurately. The linear-elastic forces mimicking the bonds between the pairs are initially considered constant along the entire length of the system. In the next step, these forces are randomly shuffled so as to take into account the inherent randomness of the DNA. The results reveal that increasing the number of mass-spring pairs in the crystalline structure decreases the influence of randomness on the mechanical behavior of the structure. This also holds true for systems with larger crystalline units. The obtained results can be used to investigate the mechanical behavior of similar macro-systems.