Periodically driven stochastic un- and refolding transitions of biopolymers

II. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Stuttgart - 70550 Stuttgart, Germany

Received: 2 August 2004
Accepted: 12 October 2004

Abstract

Mechanical single-molecule experiments probe the energy profile of biomolecules. We show that in the case of a profile with two minima (like folded/unfolded), periodic driving leads to a stochastic resonance-like phenomenon. We demonstrate that the analysis of such data can be used to extract four basic parameters of such a transition and discuss the statistical requirements of the data acquisition. As advantages of the proposed scheme, a polymeric linker is explicitly included and thermal fluctuations within each well need not be resolved.