https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/s10051-025-01028-8
Topical Review
DNA unzipping transition
Department of Physics, Ashoka University, 131029, Sonepat, Haryana, India
a
somendra.bhattacharjee@ashoka.edu.in
Received:
3
July
2025
Accepted:
14
August
2025
Published online:
2
September
2025
This review focuses on the force-induced unzipping transition of double-stranded DNA. It begins with a brief history of DNA melting, which emerged alongside the growth of the field of molecular biology, juxtaposed with the advancements in physics during the same post-World War II period. The earlier theories of melting of DNA were based on the Ising model and its modifications, but gradually moved toward polymer-based models. The idea of force-induced unzipping was first introduced in 1999 as a cooperative mechanism for breaking base pairs without the need for temperature changes. The paper discusses several subsequent developments addressing different aspects of the unzipping transition.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, SIF and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
