The studies were carried out by the mathematical modeling of DNA mechanical deformations. Numerical calculations done for the interferon alpha 17 gene, which consists of 980 base pairs. It has been established that the genesis and dynamics of open states in the DNA molecule depends on the magnitude of the external influence (torque) and on the viscosity of the environment. In addition, it is shown that the dynamics of open states zones can have a jump-like character with a small change in the magnitude of the torque. When torque is applied to all 980 base pairs of the gene, the following effect is observed: an increase in the viscosity of the medium leads to an increase in the value of the torque necessary for the occurrence of OS and DNA unwinding, i.e. viscosity plays an important stabilizing role in DNA dynamics. Under the influence of a localized torque on different (by the content of A-T and G-C pairs and location) regions of the interferon alpha 17 gene, it was found that the magnitude of the external torque necessary for the occurrence of open states at all calculated values of viscosity depends on the nucleotide composition. The dependence of the torque magnitude required for the open states occurrence on viscosity is observed when the torque is applied to areas close to the gene boundaries. At the same time, the significance of the end effect, which weakens DNA, decreased with increasing viscosity of the medium.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
Keywords: DNA mechanical oscillations; Open states; stability; torque; viscosity.