Facilitated diffusion of DNA-binding proteins
Biological Physics
2009-11-11 v3 Computational Physics
Abstract
The diffusion-controlled limit of reaction times for site-specific DNA-binding proteins is derived from first principles. We follow the generally accepted concept that a protein propagates via two competitive modes, a three-dimensional diffusion in space and a one-dimensional sliding along the DNA. However, our theoretical treatment of the problem is new. The accuracy of our analytical model is verified by numerical simulations. The results confirm that the unspecific binding of protein to DNA, combined with sliding, is capable to reduce the reaction times significantly.
Cite
@article{arxiv.physics/0507056,
title = {Facilitated diffusion of DNA-binding proteins},
author = {Konstantin V. Klenin and Holger Merlitz and Joerg Langowski and Chen-Xu Wu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0507056},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 2 figures Nov 22 2005 - accepted for PRL