Thermal denaturation and propagation of localized excitation in DNA

The denaturation and propagation of a nonlinear localized excitation in DNA molecules are studied in a unified way for a new Hamiltonian. The large amplitude motion of DNA is investigated during the propagation of the nonlinear localized excitation. The nonlinear effect on the formation of the localized excitation is disscussed. It is shown that our model not only can reproduce the results of denaturation experiments, but also can describe the process of the localized excitation of fluctuational opening in DNA molecules. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.