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Site-specific transcription factors (TFs) bind to their target sites on the DNA, where they regulate the rate at which genes are transcribed. Bacterial TFs undergo facilitated diffusion (a combination of 3D diffusion around and 1D random…
We study theoretical ``design principles'' for transcription factor-DNA interaction in bacteria, focusing particularly on the statistical interaction of the transcription factors (TF's) with the genomic background (i.e., the genome without…
Bacterial plant pathogens rely on a battalion of transcription factors to fine-tune their response to changing environmental conditions and marshal the genetic resources required for successful pathogenesis. Prediction of transcription…
The regulation of a gene depends on the binding of transcription factors to specific sites located in the regulatory region of the gene. The generation of these binding sites and of cooperativity between them are essential building blocks…
Evolution of gene regulation is crucial for our understanding of the phenotypic differences between species, populations and individuals. Sequence-specific binding of transcription factors to the regulatory regions on the DNA is a key…
Transcription factors (TFs) interact with a multitude of binding sites on DNA and partner proteins inside cells. We investigate how nonspecific binding/unbinding to such decoy binding sites affects the magnitude and time-scale of random…
Transcription factors (TFs) are key regulators of gene expression. Based on the classical scenario in which the TF search process switches between one-dimensional motion along the DNA molecule and free Brownian motion in the nucleus, we…
To perform recognition, molecules must locate and specifically bind their targets within a noisy biochemical environment with many look-alikes. Molecular recognition processes, especially the induced-fit mechanism, are known to involve…
Bacterial chemotaxis is controlled by the conformational changes of the receptors, in response to the change of the ambient chemical concentration. In a statistical mechanical approach, the signalling due to the conformational changes is a…
We report results showing that thermally-induced openings of double stranded DNA coincide with the location of functionally relevant sites for transcription. Investigating both viral and bacterial DNA gene promoter segments, we found that…
Phenotypes of individuals in a population of organisms are not fixed. Phenotypic fluctuations, which describe temporal variation of the phenotype of an individual or individual-to-individual variation across a population, are present in…
Response time and transcription level are vital parameters of gene regulation. They depend on how fast transcription factors (TFs) find and how efficient they occupy their specific target sites. It is well known that target site search is…
Cells integrate signals and make decisions about their future state in short amounts of time. A lot of theoretical effort has gone into asking how to best design gene regulatory circuits that fulfill a given function, yet little is known…
To regulate a particular gene, a transcription factor (TF) needs to bind a specific genome location. How is this genome address specified amid the presence of ~10^6-10^9 decoy sites? Our analysis of 319 known TF binding motifs clearly…
The time sequences of the molecular dynamics simulation for the folding process of a protein is analyzed with the inherent structure landscape which focuses on configurational dynamics of the system. Time dependent energy and entropy for…
Cellular responses often require the fast activation or repression of specific genes, which depends on Transcription Factors (TFs) that have to quickly find the promoters of these genes within a large genome. Transcription Factors (TFs)…
We examine fluctuation effects due to the low copy number of proteins involved in pattern-forming dynamics within a bacterium. We focus on a stochastic model of the oscillating MinCDE protein system regulating accurate cell division in E.…
Normal mode analysis is a widely used technique for reconstructing conformational changes of proteins from the knowledge of native structures. In this Letter, we investigate to what extent normal modes capture the salient features of the…
We develop revised theoretical ideas on the mechanism by which the transcription factor proteins locate their specific binding sites on DNA faster than the three-dimensional (3D) diffusion controlled rate limit. We demonstrate that the…
Transcription regulation is largely governed by the profile and the dynamics of transcription factors' binding to DNA. Stochastic effects are intrinsic to this dynamics and the binding to functional sites must be controled with a certain…