Related papers: Gene clusters reflecting macrodomain structure res…
The evolutionary fitness landscape of biological molecules is extremely sparse and heterogeneous, with functional sequences forming isolated dense ``islands'' within a vast combinatorial space of largely non-functional variants. Protein…
The evolutionary origins of structural features in reconstructed gene-regulatory networks (GRNs) remain poorly understood, especially given the random aspects of gene expression. Here, we extend a classical model of GRN evolution to allow a…
In recent years significant attention has been attracted to proposals which utilize DNA for nanotechnological applications. Potential applications of these ideas range from the programmable self-assembly of colloidal crystals, to biosensors…
Along the bacterial chromosome, regions called rrn operons contain genes that are transcribed into ribosomal RNA. These operons are among the most transcriptionally active sites in the genome. It has been observed in E. coli that RNA…
Directed growth, anisotropic cell shapes, and confinement drive self-organization in multicellular systems. We investigate the influence of particle shape on the distribution and dynamics of nematic microdomains in a minimal in-silico model…
The influence of DNA cis-regulatory elements on a gene's expression has been intensively studied. However, little is known about expressions driven by trans-acting DNA hotspots. DNA hotspots harboring copy number aberrations are recognized…
DNA-mediated multivalent interactions between colloidal particles have been extensively applied for their ability to program bulk phase behaviour and dynamic processes. Exploiting the competition between different types of DNA-DNA bonds,…
In bacteria such as $\textit{Escherichia coli}$, DNA is compacted into a nucleoid near the cell center, while ribosomes$-$molecular complexes that translate messenger RNAs (mRNAs) into proteins$-$are mainly localized at the poles. We study…
Spatially annotated single-cell datasets provide unprecedented opportunities to dissect cell-cell communication in development and disease. Heterotypic signaling includes interactions between different cell types and is well established in…
Gene regulation relies on the specificity of transcription factor (TF) - DNA interactions. In equilibrium, limited specificity may lead to crosstalk: a regulatory state in which a gene is either incorrectly activated due to noncognate…
By observing reconstituted chromatin by fluorescence microscopy (FM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), we found that the density of nucleosomes exhibits a bimodal profile, i.e., there is a large transition between the dense and dispersed…
In contrast to proteins much less attention has been focused on development of computational models for describing RNA molecules, which are being recognized as playing key roles in many cellular functions. Current atomically detailed force…
The study of genomic variation has provided key insights into the functional role of mutations. Predominantly, studies have focused on single nucleotide variants (SNV), which are relatively easy to detect and can be described with rich…
Based on a recently proposed non-equilibrium mechanism for spatial pattern formation [cond-mat/0312366] we study how morphogenesis can be controlled by locally coupled discrete dynamical networks, similar to gene regulation networks of…
Connectivity networks have recently become widely used in biology due to increasing amounts of information on the physical and functional links between individual proteins. This connectivity data provides valuable material for expanding our…
Many recent studies of liquid-liquid phase separation in biology focus on phase separation as a dynamic control mechanism for cellular function, but it can also result in complex mesoscopic structures. We primarily investigate a model…
It is widely believed that the folding of the chromosome in the nucleus has a major effect on genetic expression. For example co-regulated genes in several species have been shown to colocalize in space despite being far away on the DNA…
The precision of biochemical signaling is limited by randomness in the diffusive arrival of molecules at their targets. For proteins binding to the specific sites on the DNA and regulating transcription, the ability of the proteins to…
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…
We present Brownian dynamics simulations of the facilitated diffusion of a protein, modelled as a sphere with a binding site on its surface, along DNA, modelled as a semi-flexible polymer. We consider both the effect of DNA organisation in…