First- or second-order transition in the melting of repeat sequence DNA.

Both theoretical analysis and observation of the continuity of the melted fraction of base pairs indicate that the melting transition in DNA is second order. Analysis of the salt dependence of the transition by polyelectrolyte limiting laws, however, has first-order dynamics imbedded in the analysis. This paper proposes that the observation taken to be a latent heat of melting in the limiting law analysis could instead be a specific heat anomaly associated with a second-order transition. The limiting laws can be reconstructed based on a second-order transition with a specific heat anomaly. The T2M dependence of this excess heat is also consistent with its being a specific heat anomaly of a system displaying classical critical behavior. Classical critical behavior indicates that theoretical mean field approaches such as MSPA should be particularly appropriate to helix melting studies.