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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 32: Statistical Physics in Biological Systems III (organised by BP)

DY 32.3: Talk

Thursday, March 17, 2011, 11:00–11:15, ZEU 260

A Thermal Trap for DNA Replication — •Christof B. Mast and Dieter Braun — Systems Biophysics, Physics Department, Center for Nanoscience, Ludwig Maximilians Universität München, Amalienstr. 54, 80799 München, Germany

The hallmark of living matter is the replication of genetic molecules and their active storage against diffusion. We implement both in the simple non-equilibrium environment of a temperature gradient. Convective flow both drives the DNA replicating polymerase chain reaction (PCR) while concurrent thermophoresis accumulates the replicated 143 base pair DNA in bulk solution. The time constant for accumulation is 92 s while DNA is doubled every 50 s. The length of the amplified DNA is checked with thermophoresis. Finite element simulations confirm the findings. The experiments explore conditions in pores of hydrothermal rock which can serve as a model environment for the origin of life.