Related papers: DNA nanotweezers studied with a coarse-grained mod…
Complementary strands in DNA double helix show temporary fluctuational openings which are essential to biological functions such as transcription and replication of the genetic information. Such large amplitude fluctuations, known as the…
DNA stretching experiments are usually interpreted using the worm-like chain model; the persistence length A appearing in the model is then interpreted as the elastic stiffness of the double helix. In fact the persistence length obtained by…
We review statistical-mechanical theories of single-molecule micromanipulation experiments on nucleic acids. First, models for describing polymer elasticity are introduced. We then review how these models are used to interpret…
The base pair fluctuations and helix untwisting are examined for a circular molecule. A realistic mesoscopic model including twisting degrees of freedom and bending of the molecular axis is proposed. The computational method, based on path…
DNA nanotechnology uses predictable interactions of nucleic acids to precisely engineer complex nanostructures. Characterizing these self-assembled structures at the single-structure level is crucial for validating their design and…
We present a phenomenological dynamical model able to describe the stretching features of the curve of DNA length vs applied force. As concerns the chain, the model is based on the discrete wormlike chain model with elastic modifications,…
We show how coarse-grained modelling combined with umbrella sampling using distance-based order parameters can be applied to compute the free-energy landscapes associated with mechanical deformations of large DNA nanostructures. We…
Cells deploy robust mechanisms to repair DNA damage, safeguarding genomic stability and cellular health, but the physical principles underlying these processes remain incompletely understood. Experiments show \emph{in vitro} that upon a DNA…
We present a thermodynamically robust coarse-grained model to simulate folding of RNA in monovalent salt solutions. The model includes stacking, hydrogen bond and electrostatic interactions as fundamental components in describing the…
Solid-state nanopore DNA sequencers present mechanical and chemical stability, reusability, and large-scale integrability. However, their development is hindered by the absence of a protein-free mechanism for controlling DNA translocation,…
We show that a mesoscale model, with a minimal number of parameters, can well describe the thermomechanical and mechanochemical behavior of homogeneous DNA at thermal equilibrium under tension and torque. We predict critical temperatures…
The macroscopic curvature of double helical DNA induced by regularly repeated adenine tracts is well-known but still puzzling. Its physical origin remains controversial even though it is perhaps the best-documented sequence modulation of…
We discuss the thermodynamic behaviour near the force induced unzipping transition of a double stranded DNA in two different ensembles. The Y-fork is identified as the coexisting phases in the fixed distance ensemble. From finite size…
We report theoretical studies of charge transport in single-stranded DNA in the direction perpendicular to the backbone axis. We find that, if the electrodes which sandwich the DNA have the appropriate spatial width, each nucleotide carries…
We predict various detectable mechanical responses to the presence of local DNA defects which are defined as short DNA segments exhibiting mechanical properties obviously different from the 50 nm persistence length based semiflexible…
The thermodynamical stability of DNA minicircles is investigated by means of path integral techniques. Hydrogen bonds between base pairs on complementary strands can be broken by thermal fluctuations and temporary fluctuational openings…
Nucleosomes organize the folding of DNA into chromatin and significantly influence transcription, replication, regulation and repair. All atom molecular dynamics simulations of a nucleosome and of its 146 basepairs of DNA free in solution…
The flexibility and stiffness of small DNA play a fundamental role ranging from several biophysical processes to nano-technological applications. Here, we estimate the mechanical properties of short double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) having length…
The complementary strands of DNA molecules can be separated when stretched apart by a force; the unzipping signal is correlated to the base content of the sequence but is affected by thermal and instrumental noise. We consider here the…
It was first suggested by Englander et al to model the nonlinear dynamics of DNA relevant to the transcription process in terms of a chain of coupled pendulums. In a related paper [q-bio.BM/0604014] we argued for the advantages of an…