Modeling the shearing and rehybridization process of DNA

Abstract

The physiological complexity of biological systems makes it very difficult to formulate hypotheses to explain their behavior and to test such hypotheses. Simulation models are precise statements of hypo theses ; hence comparing the behavior of a model with that of the corresponding real-world system is a way of testing the adequacy of the hypothesis represent ed by the model.

In this paper we use a simulation model to assess a hypothesis about the hydrodynamic shearing of DNA. A second model uses the output of the first one as an input. This latter model is being used to study the rehybridization process, which involves several unknown stochastic distributions.