Classification of Tangle Solutions for Integrases, A Protein Family that Changes DNA Topology
Abstract
Integrase proteins acting on circular double-stranded DNA often change its topology by transforming unknotted circles into torus knots and links. Two systems of tangle equations--corresponding to the two initial DNA sequences--arise when modelling this transformation: direct and inverted. With no a priori assumptions on the constituent tangles, we utilize Dehn surgery arguments to completely classify the tangle solutions for each of the two systems. A key step is to combine work of our previous paper with recent results of Kronheimer, Mrowka, Ozsvath and Szabo, and Ernst to show a certain prime tangle must in fact be a generalized Montesinos tangle. These tangle solutions are divided into three classes, common to both systems, plus a fourth class for the inverted system that contains the sole generalized Montesinos tangle. We discuss the possible biological implications of our classification, and of this novel solution.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.math/0501173,
title = {Classification of Tangle Solutions for Integrases, A Protein Family that Changes DNA Topology},
author = {Dorothy Buck and Cynthia Verjovsky Marcotte},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0501173},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
17 pages, 1 figure