Related papers: Partition function of a bubble formed in double st…

We study the unzipping of a double stranded DNA (dsDNA) by applying an external force on a single strand while leaving the other strand free. We find that the dsDNA can be unzipped to two single strands if the external force exceeds a…

The issue of the nucleation and slow closure mechanisms of non superhelical stress-induced denaturation bubbles in DNA is tackled using coarse-grained MetaDynamics and Brownian simulations. A minimal mesoscopic model is used where the…

We suggest that the thermodynamic stability parameters (nearest neighbor stacking and hydrogen bonding free energies) of double-stranded DNA molecules can be inferred reliably from time series of the size fluctuations (breathing) of local…

A solid-state nanopore can electrophoretically capture a DNA molecule and pull it through in a folded configuration. The resulting ionic current signal indicates where along its length the DNA was captured. A statistical study using an 8 nm…

Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, store their micron long DNA inside an icosahedral capsid with a typical diameter of 40 nm to 100 nm. Consistent with experimental observations, such confinement conditions induce an arrangement…

We present an extensive theoretical investigation of the mechanical unzipping of double-stranded DNA under the influence of an applied force. In the limit of long polymers, there is a thermodynamic unzipping transition at a critical force…

We present a computational method to evaluate the end-to-end and the contour length distribution functions of short DNA molecules described by a mesoscopic Hamiltonian. The method generates a large statistical ensemble of possible…

Brownian motion provides access to hydrodynamic properties of nanoscale objects independent of their optical resolvability. Here, we present a diffusion-based approach to infer effective particle size distributions of DNA-functionalized…

We have recently suggested that the probability for the formation of thermally activated DNA bubbles is, to a very good approximation, proportional to the number of soft AT pairs over a length L(n) that depend on the size $n$ of the bubble…

Let $\cal{N}=\{1,\cdots,n\}$. The entropy function $\bf h$ of a set of $n$ discrete random variables $\{X_i:i\in\cal N\}$ is a $2^n$-dimensional vector whose entries are ${\bf{h}}({\cal{A}})\triangleq H(X_{\cal{A}}),\cal{A}\subset{\cal N}…

Using Brownian dynamics simulations, we study the migration of long charged chains in an electrophoretic microchannel device consisting of an array of microscopic entropic traps with alternating deep regions and narrow constrictions. Such a…

We compute the contribution of the vacuum Virasoro representation to the genus-two partition function of an arbitrary CFT with central charge $c>1$. This is the perturbative pure gravity partition function in three dimensions. We employ a…

We calculate the distribution function of the end--to--end distance of a semiflexible polymer with large bending rigidity. This quantity is directly observable in experiments on single semiflexible polymers (e.g., DNA, actin) and relevant…

Many structures inside the cell such as nucleosomes and protein-mediated DNA loops contain sharply bent double-stranded (ds) DNA. Therefore, the energetics of strong dsDNA bending constitutes an essential part of cellular thermodynamics.…

Using recent developments in expressing one-loop partition functions in Euclidean $AdS_2$ space-times in terms of character integrals, we relate the one-loop effective action for a free field theory in $AdS_2$ (comprised of a massless…

We study DNA denaturation by integrating elasticity -- as described by the Gaussian network model -- with bond binding energies, distinguishing between different base-pair and stacking energies. We use exact calculation, within the model,…

The strong bending of polymers is poorly understood. We propose a general quantitative framework of polymer bending that includes both the weak and strong bending regimes on the same footing, based on a single general physical principle. As…

We studied the unzipping kinetics of single molecules of double-stranded DNA by pulling one of their two strands through a narrow protein pore. PCR analysis yielded the first direct proof of DNA unzipping in such a system. The time to unzip…

Loops are essential secondary structure elements in folded DNA and RNA molecules and proliferate close to the melting transition. Using a theory for nucleic acid secondary structures that accounts for the logarithmic entropy c ln m for a…

In order to study the molecular damage induced in the form of single-strand and double-strand breaks by the ionizing radiation at the DNA level, Geant4-DNA Monte Carlo simulation code for complete transportation of primary protons and other…