Twisting Motion Frequency Dependent I-V Characteristics of 102 Base Pairs Poly(dG)-Poly(dC) DNA Molecule

Abstract

The I-V characteristic of 102 base pair Poly(dG)-Poly(dC) DNA molecule have been calculated for several base pairs twisting motion frequencies. The calculation is carried out on doubled-stranded DNA model sandwiched in between two metallic electrodes. The effect is studied by taking into account twisting angle dependent on-site energy and hopping constant in the tight binding Hamiltonian of double-strand DNA model. We use semi-empirical Slater-Koster theory in the twisting angle dependent intra- and inter-strand hopping constant. We consider the temperature dependent sugar-phosphate backbone on-site energy by employing random energy disorder using uniform distribution function. The standard deviation of twisting angle is obtained by assuming that the average kinetic energy of twisting motions is proportional to system temperature. The transfer and scattering matrix methods are used simultaneously in calculating the transmission probability of charge on the molecule. We choose the contacts between molecule and both electrodes such that the main features of transport properties of the molecule do not change much by the presence of metallic electrodes. By assuming the voltage drops symmetrically at the contacts, Landauer-Buttiker Formalism is used in calculating the I-V characteristic of the molecule from transmission probability. The results show that the magnitude of current increases by twisting motion frequency increment. Larger current magnitude increment is observed at higher voltage. The influence of twisting motion frequency on the I-V characteristic is stronger at higher temperature, in the range of considered temperature.