Related papers: Twist/Writhe Partitioning in a Coarse-Grained DNA …
The influence of tension on DNA looping has been studied both experimentally and theoretically in the past. However, different theoretical models have yielded different predictions, leaving uncertainty about their validity. We briefly…
In this paper we consider a physical system in which two DNA molecules braid about each other. The distance between the two molecular ends, on either side of the braid, is held at a distance much larger than supercoiling radius of the…
We use the worm-like chain model to study supercoiling of DNA under tension and torque. The model reproduces experimental data for a much broader range of forces, salt concentrations and contour lengths than previous approaches. Our theory…
We study migration of DNA molecules through a microchannel with a series of electric traps controlled by an ac electric field. We describe the motion of DNA based on Brownian dynamics simulations of a beads-spring chain. Our simulation…
The symmetries of the DNA double helix require a new term in its linear response to stress: the coupling between twist and stretch. Recent experiments with torsionally-constrained single molecules give the first direct measurement of this…
DNA migration in topologically structured microchannels with periodic cavities is investigated experimentally and with Brownian dynamics simulations of a simple bead-spring model. The results are in very good agreement with one another. In…
A multiscale approach is used to simulate the translocation of DNA through a nanopore. Within this scheme, the interactions of the molecule with the surrounding fluid (solvent) are explicitly taken into account. By generating polymers of…
The complex mechanisms governing charge migration in DNA oligomers reflect the rich structural and electronic properties of the molecule of life. Controlling the mechanical stability of DNA nanowires in charge transport experiments is a…
Modeling of DNA-protein interactions is a complex process involving many important time and length scales. This can be facilitated through the use of coarse-grained models which reduce the number of degrees of freedom and allow efficient…
We present a self-contained theory for the mechanical response of DNA in single molecule experiments. Our model is based on a 1D continuum description of the DNA molecule and accounts both for its elasticity and for DNA-DNA electrostatic…
A model of self-avoiding walk with suitable constraints on self-attraction is developed to describe the conformational behavior of a short RNA or a single stranded DNA molecule that forms hairpin structure and calculate the properties…
Plectonemes are intertwined helically looped domains which form when a DNA molecule is supercoiled, i.e. over- or under-wounded. They are ubiquitous in cellular DNA and their physical properties have attracted significant interest both from…
We develop a continuum elastic approach to examining the bending mechanics of semiflexible filaments with a local internal degree of freedom that couples to the bending modulus. We apply this model to study the nonlinear mechanics of a…
The unconstrained genomic DNA of bacteria forms a coil, which volume exceeds 1000 times the volume of the cell. Since prokaryotes lack a membrane-bound nucleus, in sharp contrast with eukaryotes, the DNA may consequently be expected to…
We present a coarse-grained model of DNA-functionalized colloids that is computationally tractable. Importantly, the model parameters are solely based on experimental data. Using this highly simplified model, we can predict the phase…
While the behavior of double stranded DNA at mesoscopic scales is fairly well understood, less is known about its relation to the rich mechanical properties in the base-pair scale, which is crucial, for instance, to understand DNA-protein…
Mechanical properties of nucleic acids play an important role in many biological processes which often involve physical deformations of these molecules. At sufficiently long length scales (say above $\sim 20-30$ base pairs) the mechanics of…
The torsional elasticity of semiflexible polymers like DNA is of biological significance. A mathematical treatment of this problem was begun by Fuller using the relation between link, twist and writhe, but progress has been hindered by the…
The mechanical properties of DNA are typically described by elastic theories with purely local couplings (on-site models). We discuss and analyze coarse-grained (oxDNA) and all-atom simulations, which indicate that in DNA distal sites are…
The linking and writhing numbers are key quantities when characterizing the structure of a piece of supercoiled DNA. Defined as double integrals over the shape of the double-helix, these numbers are not always straightforward to compute,…