The Bend Stiffness of S-DNA

We formulate and solve a two-state model for the elasticity of nicked, double-stranded DNA that borrows features from both the Worm Like Chain and the Bragg-Zimm model. Our model is computationally simple, and gives an excellent fit to recent experimental data through the entire overstretching transition. The fit gives the first value for the bending stiffness of the overstretched state as about 12 nm · kBT, a value quite different from either B-form or single-stranded DNA.