Distribution of DNA Fragment Sizes After Irradiation With Heavy Ions

摘要

Ionizing radiation is responsible for production of double strand breaks (DSB) in a DNA structure. In contrast to sparsely ionizing radiation, densely ionizing radiation produces DSBs that are non-randomly distributed along the DNA molecule and can form clusters of various size. The paper discusses minimalistic models that describe observable pattern of distribution of fragment lengths in DNA segments irradiated with heavy ions and applies the formalism to interpret the recent experimental data collected by use of the atomic force microscope (AFM).