Mechanical Rupture of DNA Tension-Gate Elements: Thresholds, Kinetics, and Energetics from Steered Molecular Dynamics
The kinetics and energetics of load-driven conformational rearrangements underlie DNA replication, repair, and DNA nanodevice function. DNA tension-gate tethers exploit these dynamics, yet their rupture thresholds are set almost exclusively by single-molecule calibration; here, an atomistic steered-molecular-dynamics p...