Related papers: DNA sequence-dependent mechanics and protein-assis…
We introduce a model of DNA sequence evolution which can account for biases in mutation rates that depend on the identity of the neighboring bases. An analytic solution for this class of non-equilibrium models is developed by adopting…
The regulation of cellular function is often controlled at the level of gene transcription. Such genetic regulation usually consists of interacting networks, whereby gene products from a single network can act to control their own…
The sequence-dependent elasticity of double-helical DNA on a nm length scale can be captured by the rigid base-pair model, whose strains are the relative position and orientation of adjacent base-pairs. Corresponding elastic potentials have…
This paper introduces the use of cable dynamics models as a means to explore the mechanics of DNA on long-length scales. It is on these length scales that DNA forms twisted and curved three-dimensional shapes known as supercoils and loops.…
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…
DNA methylation is usually treated as an epigenetic memory mark: transcriptional history is written into regulatory DNA and later stabilizes a chosen cell identity. This picture explains persistence, but it makes memory passive. Here we…
Gene regulation is one of the most important fundamental biological processes in living cells. It involves multiple protein molecules that locate specific sites on DNA and assemble gene initiation or gene repression multi-molecular…
Many fundamental biological processes are regulated by protein-DNA complexes called {\it synaptosomes}, which possess multiple interaction sites. Despite the critical importance of synaptosomes, the mechanisms of their formation remain not…
DNA loop extrusion is arguably one of the most important players in genome organization. The precise mechanism by which loop extruding factors (LEFs) work is still unresolved and much debated. One of the major open questions in this field…
Appropriate regulation of gene expression is essential to ensure that protein synthesis occurs in a selective manner. The control of transcription is the most dominant type of regulation mediated by a complex of molecules such as…
DNA supercoiling, the under or overwinding of DNA, is a key physical mechanism both participating to compaction of bacterial genomes and making genomic sequences adopt various structural forms. DNA supercoiling may lead to the formation of…
The mutation and selection of regulatory DNA sequences is presented as an ideal model system of molecular evolution where genotype, phenotype, and fitness can be explicitly and independently characterized. In this theoretical study, we…
Effects of sequence disorder on looping and cyclization of the double-stranded DNA are studied theoretically. Both random intrinsic curvature and inhomogeneous bending rigidity are found to result in a remarkably wide distribution of…
Helical molecules change their twist number under the effect of a mechanical load. We study the twist-stretch relation for a set of short DNA molecules modeled by a mesoscopic Hamiltonian. Finite temperature path integral techniques are…
The macroscopic curvature induced in double helical B-DNA by regularly repeated adenine tracts (A-tracts) is a long known, but still unexplained phenomenon. This effect plays a key role in DNA studies because it is unique in the amount and…
Cells operate in part by compartmentalizing chemical reactions. For example, recent work has shown that chromatin, the material that contains the cell's genome, can auto-regulate its structure by utilizing reaction products (proteins, RNA)…
The intrinsic double helix conformation of the DNA strands is known to be the key ingredient of control of the electric current through the DNA by the perpendicular (gate) electric field. We show theoretically that Bloch oscillations in the…
As a key molecule of Life, Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the focus of numbers of investigations with the help of biological, chemical and physical techniques. From a physical point of view, both experimental and theoretical works have…
We study the compression and extension dynamics of a DNA-like polymer interacting with non-DNA binding and DNA-binding proteins, by means of computer simulations. The geometry we consider is inspired by recent experiments probing the…
Transcription is the first step of gene expression, in which a particular segment of DNA is copied to RNA by the enzyme RNA polymerase (RNAP). Despite many details of the complex interactions between DNA and RNA synthesis disclosed…