Electrical current through DNA containing mismatched base pairs

Mismatched base pairs, such as different conformations of the G·A mispair, cause only minor structural changes in the host DNA molecule, thereby making mispair recognition an arduous task. Electron transport in DNA that depends strongly on the hopping transfer integrals between the nearest base pairs, which in turn are affected by the presence of a mispair, might be an attractive approach in this regard. We report here on our investigations, via the I-V characteristics, of the effect of a mispair on the electrical properties of homogeneous and generic DNA molecules. The I-V characteristics of DNA were studied numerically within the double-stranded tight-binding model. The parameters of the tight-binding model, such as the transfer integrals and on-site energies, are determined from first-principles calculations. The changes in electrical current through the DNA chain due to the presence of a mispair depend on the conformation of the G·A mispair and are appreciable for DNA consisting of up to 90 base pairs. For homogeneous DNA sequences the current through DNA is suppressed and the strongest suppression is realized for the G(anti)·A(syn) conformation of the G·A mispair. For inhomogeneous (generic) DNA molecules, the mispair result can be either a suppression or an enhancement of the current, depending on the type of mispairs and actual DNA sequence.