Related papers: A Single-Molecule Hershey-Chase Experiment
We characterize the equilibrium thermodynamics of a thick polymer confined in a spherical region of space. This is used to gain insight into the DNA packaging process. The experimental reference system for the present study is the recent…
DNA inversion is an important mechanism by which bacteria and bacteriophage switch reversibly between phenotypic states. In such switches, the orientation of a short DNA element is flipped by a site-specific recombinase enzyme. We propose a…
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…
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…
In the bacterium Escherichia coli, selection of the division site involves pole-to-pole oscillations of the proteins MinD and MinE. Different oscillation mechanisms based on cooperative effects between Min-proteins and on the exchange of…
Bacterial migration through confined spaces is critical for several phenomena like: biofilm formation, bacterial transport in soils, and bacterial therapy against cancer . In the present work, \textit{E. coli} (strain K12-MG1655 WT)…
DNA-interacting proteins have roles multiple processes, many operating as molecular machines which undergo dynamic metastable transitions to bring about their biological function. To fully understand this molecular heterogeneity, DNA and…
Bacteriophages densely pack their long dsDNA genome inside a protein capsid. The conformation of the viral genome inside the capsid is consistent with a hexagonal liquid crystalline structure. Experiments have confirmed that the details of…
Long DNA molecules can be mapped by cutting them with restriction enzymes inside a narrow channel. Once cut, the individual fragments thus produced move away from each other due to diffusion and entropic effects. We investigate how long it…
While the statistical mechanical description of DNA has a long tradition, renewed interest in DNA melting from a physics perspective is nourished by measurements of the fluctuation dynamics of local denaturation bubbles by single molecule…
Recent in vitro experiments have shown that DNA ejection from bacteriophage can be partially stopped by surrounding osmotic pressure when ejected DNA is digested by DNase I on the course of ejection. We argue in this work by combination of…
Biomolecular condensates provide distinct chemical environments, which control various cellular processes. The diffusive dynamics and chemical kinetics inside phase-separated condensates can be studied experimentally by fluorescently…
We study the dynamics of the passage of a stiff chain through a pore into a cell containing particles that bind reversibly to it. Using Brownian Molecular Dynamics simulations we investigate the mean-first-passage time as a function of the…
Inspired by its central role in many biological processes, the transport of biopolymers across nanoscale pores is at the heart of a single-molecule sensing technology aimed at nucleic acid and protein sequencing, as well as biomarker…
The mechanism and driving forces of chromosome segregation in the bacterial cell cycle of E. coli is one of the least understood events in its life cycle. Using principles of entropic repulsion between polymer loops confined in a cylinder,…
Single molecule studies, at constant force, of the separation of double-stranded DNA into two separated single strands may provide information relevant to the dynamics of DNA replication. At constant applied force, theory predicts that the…
We report on a new technique which was used to detect single Escherichia coli that is based on the changes in the nonlinear rotation of a magnetic microsphere driven by an external magnetic field. The presence of one Escherichia Coli…
How DNA repair enzymes find the relatively rare sites of damage is not known in great detail. Recent experiments and molecular data suggest that the individual repair enzymes do not work independently of each other, but rather interact with…
We present micro-rheological measurments of the drag force on colloids pulled through a solution of lambda-DNA (used here as a monodisperse model polymer) with an optical tweezer. The experiments show a violation of the Stokes-Einstein…
The threading of a polymer chain through a small pore is a classic problem in polymer dynamics and underlies nanopore sensing technology. However important experimental aspects of the polymer motion in a solid-state nanopore, such as an…