  Electronic transport through DNA wires in the presence of a strong
dissipative environment is investigated. We show that new bath-induced
electronic states are formed within the bandgap. These states show up in the
linear conductance spectrum as a temperature dependent background and lead to a
crossover from tunneling to thermal activated behavior with increasing
temperature. Depending on the strength of the electron-bath coupling, the
conductance at the Fermi level can show a weak exponential or even an algebraic
length dependence. Our results suggest a new environmental-induced transport
mechanism. This might be relevant for the understanding of molecular conduction
experiments in liquid solution, like those recently performed on poly(GC)
oligomers in a water buffer (B. Xu et al., Nano Lett 4, 1105 (2004)).

Soft Condensed Matter;Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics;Biomolecules;Molecular Networks