Propagation of twist solitons in real DNA chains

Abstract

We report on numerical investigations concerning the propagation of solitons in a real DNA chain (the Human Adenovirus 2) using a realistic model of DNA torsional dynamics; this takes fully into account the inhomogeneities in the real chain. We find that twist solitons propagate for considerable distances (2-10 times their diameters) before stopping due to phonon emission. Our results show that twist solitons may exist in real DNA chains; and on a more general level that solitonic propagation can take place in highly inhomogeneous media.

6 pages, 3 figures