Related papers: On the ion-mediated interaction between protein an…
Specific binding of proteins to DNA is one of the most common ways in which gene expression is controlled. Although general rules for the DNA-protein recognition can be derived, the ambiguous and complex nature of this mechanism precludes a…
Normal and anomalous diffusion are ubiquitous in many complex systems [1] . Here, we define a time and space generalized diffusion equation (GDE), which uses fractional-time derivatives and transformed d-path Laplacian operators on…
We study electrostatic interaction between molecules of the DNA in which a number of phosphate groups of the sugar-phosphate backbone are exchanged for the pyrophosphate ones. We employ a model in which the DNA is considered as a…
Transcription Factors (TFs) are proteins that regulate gene expression. The regulation mechanism is via the binding of a TF to a specific part of the gene associated with it, the TF's target. The target of a specific TF corresponds to a…
DNA-functionalized particles have great potential for the design of complex self-assembled materials. The major hurdle in realizing crystal structures from DNA-functionalized particles is expected to be kinetic barriers that trap the system…
All known life forms are based upon a hierarchy of interwoven feedback loops, operating over a cascade of space, time and energy scales. Among the most basic loops are those connecting DNA and proteins. For example, in genetic networks, DNA…
Understanding the three-dimensional (3D) structure and stability of DNA is fundamental for its biological function and the design of novel drugs. In this study, we introduce an improved coarse-grained (CG) model, incorporating a more…
We present a general theory for predicting the interaction potentials between DNA-coated colloids, and more broadly, any particles that interact via valence-limited ligand-receptor binding. Our theory correctly incorporates the…
We suggest that the DNA molecules could form the cholesteric phase owing to an interaction mediated by the network of the hydrogen bonds (H-network) in the solvent. The model admits of the dependence of the optical activity of the solution…
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…
Cellular responses often require the fast activation or repression of specific genes, which depends on Transcription Factors (TFs) that have to quickly find the promoters of these genes within a large genome. Transcription Factors (TFs)…
The effective force between two parallel DNA molecules is calculated as a function of their mutual separation for different valencies of counter- and salt ions and different salt concentrations. Computer simulations of the primitive model…
There is now a certain consensus that Transcription Factors (TFs) reach their target sites, where they regulate gene transcription, via a mechanism dubbed facilitated diffusion (FD). In FD, the TF cycles between events of 3D-diffusion in…
The adsorption of DNA or other polyelectrolyte molecules on charged membranes is a recurrent motif in soft matter and bionanotechnological systems. Two typical situations encountered are the deposition of single DNA chains onto substrates…
Electroporation is a physical method to induce the uptake of therapeutic drugs and DNA, by eukaryotic cells and tissues. The phenomena behind electro-mediated membrane permeabilization to plasmid DNA have been shown to be significantly more…
Recent experiments show that transcription factors (TFs) indeed use the facilitated diffusion mechanism to locate their target sequences on DNA in living bacteria cells: TFs alternate between sliding motion along DNA and relocation events…
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 distance-resolved effective interaction potential between two parallel DNA molecules is calculated by computer simulations with explicit tetravalent counterions and monovalent salt. Adding counterions first yields an attractive minimum…
Experiments indicate that unbinding rates of proteins from DNA can depend on the concentration of proteins in nearby solution. Here we present a theory of multi-step replacement of DNA-bound proteins by solution-phase proteins. For four…
Attraction between two indentical objects uniformly charged in solution seems intuitively surprising on the one hand because we know that such objects do repel in vacuum and on another hand because this simple mental picture is still…