Related papers: Extrinsic and intrinsic nucleosome positioning sig…
Genome-wide binding preferences of the key components of eukaryotic pre-initiation complex (PIC) have been recently measured with high resolution in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by Rhee and Pugh (Nature (2012) 483:295-301). Yet the rules…
Recent experiments and simulations have demonstrated that proteins can fold on the ribosome. However, the extent and generality of fitness effects resulting from co-translational folding remain open questions. Here we report a genome-wide…
The spatial positioning of chromosomes relative to functional nuclear bodies is intertwined with genome functions such as transcription. However, the sequence patterns and epigenomic features that collectively influence chromatin spatial…
Recognition and binding of specific sites on DNA by proteins is central for many cellular functions such as transcription, replication, and recombination. In the process of recognition, a protein rapidly searches for its specific site on a…
Natively unfolded proteins exist as an ensemble of flexible conformations lacking a well defined tertiary structure along a large portion of their polypeptide chain. Despite the absence of a stable configuration, they are involved in…
Proteins with multiple binding sites play important roles in cell signaling systems by nucleating protein complexes in which, for example, enzymes and substrates are co-localized. Proteins that specialize in this function are called by a…
Homeostasis of protein concentrations in cells is crucial for their proper functioning, and this requires concentrations (at their steady-state levels) to be stable to fluctuations. Since gene expression is regulated by proteins such as…
Transcription factors (TFs) exert their regulatory action by binding to DNA with specific sequence preferences. However, different TFs can partially share their binding sequences due to their common evolutionary origin. This `redundancy' of…
The binding of a transcription factor (TF) to a DNA operator site can initiate or repress the expression of a gene. Computational prediction of sites recognized by a TF has traditionally relied upon knowledge of several cognate sites,…
In the nuclei of eukaryotic cells, DNA is packaged through several levels of compaction in an orderly retrievable way that enables the correct regulation of gene expression. The functional dynamics of this assembly involves the unwinding of…
The chromosomal DNA of bacteria is folded into a compact body called the nucleoid, which is composed essentially of DNA (80%), RNA (10%), and a number of different proteins (10%). These nucleoid proteins act as regulators of gene expression…
The Dissertation is focused on the studies of associations between functional elements in human genome and their nucleotide structure. The asymmetry in nucleotide content (skew, bias) was chosen as the main feature for nucleotide structure.…
Enzyme is the major workhorse to carry out the diverse cellular functions. It catalyzes the biological reactions with a high specificity, with its topology playing a crucial role. For ecologically safe production of numerous bioproducts…
On the microscopic level, biological signal transmission relies on coordinated structural changes in allosteric proteins that involve sensor and effector modules. The timescales and microscopic details of signal transmission in proteins are…
We propose a combined experimental (Atomic Force Microscopy) and theoretical study of the structural and dynamical properties of nucleosomes. In contrast to biochemical approaches, this method allows to determine simultaneously the DNA…
Genetic oscillators, such as circadian clocks, are constantly perturbed by molecular noise arising from the small number of molecules involved in gene regulation. One of the strongest sources of stochasticity is the binary noise that arises…
Transcription factors regulate gene expression, but how these proteins recognize and specifically bind to their DNA targets is still debated. Machine learning models are effective means to reveal interaction mechanisms. Here we studied the…
Cells use biochemical networks to translate environmental information into intracellular responses. These responses can be highly dynamic, but how the information is encoded in these dynamics remains poorly understood. Here we investigate…
Understanding the spatial organisation of the genome in the cell nucleus is one of the current grand challenges in biophysics. Certain biochemical -- or epigenetic -- marks that are deposited along the genome are thought to play an…
We show how to localize and quantify the functional evolutionary constraints on natural proteins. The method compares the perturbations caused by local sequence variants to the energetics of the protein folding process and to the…