Related papers: Water-mediated correlations in DNA-enzyme interact…
The DNA double helix is a polyanionic macromolecule that in water solutions is neutralized by metal ions (counterions). The property of the counterions to stabilize the water network (positive hydration) or to make it friable (negative…
We model the electron clouds of nucleic acids in DNA as a chain of coupled quantum harmonic oscillators with dipole-dipole interaction between nearest neighbours resulting in a van der Waals type bonding. Crucial parameters in our model are…
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…
Several living systems have been examined for their apparent optimization of structure and function for quantum behavior at biological length scales. Orthodox type II endonucleases, the largest class of restriction enzymes, recognize…
At the onset of X Chromosomes Inactivation, the vital process whereby female mammal cells equalize X products with respect to males, the X chromosomes are colocalized along their Xic (X-Inactivation Center) regions. The mechanism inducing…
Ion transport through narrow water--filled channels is impeded by a high electrostatic barrier. The latter originates from the large ratio of the dielectric constants of the water and a surrounding media. We show that ``doping'', i.e.…
Engineered electromagnetic fields in plasmonic nanopores enable enhanced optical detection and their use in single molecule sequencing. Here, a plasmonic nanopore prepared in a thick nanoporous film is used to investigate the interaction…
Electrostatic interactions play a fundamental role in the structure and function of proteins. Due to ionizable amino acid residues present on the solvent-exposed surfaces of proteins, the protein charge is not constant but varies with the…
Strongly correlated electrostatics of DNA systems has drawn the interest of many groups, especially the condensation and overcharging of DNA by multivalent counterions. By adding counterions of different valencies and shapes, one can…
The aim of this work is to revisit the phenomenological theory of the interaction between membrane inclusions, mediated by the membrane fluctuations. We consider the case where the inclusions are separated by distances larger than their…
Periodic arrays of micro- or nano-pillars constitute solid state matrices with excellent properties for DNA size separation. Nanofabrication technologies offer many solutions to tailor the geometry of obstacle arrays, yet most studies have…
The formation of DNA loops by proteins and protein complexes that bind at distal DNA sites plays a central role in many cellular processes, such as transcription, recombination, and replication. Here we review the basic thermodynamic…
Water clusters embedding a nitric acid molecule HNO3(H2O)_{n=1-10} are investigated via electrostatic deflection of a molecular beam. We observe large paraelectric susceptibilities that greatly exceed the electronic polarizability,…
We investigate electric-field effects in dilute electrolytes with nonlinear polarization. As a first example of such systems, we add a dipolar component with a relatively large dipole moment $\mu_0$ to an aqueous electrolyte. As a second…
Gene expression and regulation rely on an apparently finely tuned set of reactions between some proteins and DNA. Such DNA-binding proteins have to find specific sequences on very long DNA molecules and they mostly do so in absence of any…
We study how double-stranded DNA translocates through graphene nanogaps. Nanogaps are fabricated with a novel capillary-force induced graphene nanogap formation technique. DNA translocation signatures for nanogaps are qualitatively…
By exploring a recent model [Palmeri, J., M. Manghi, and N. Destainville. 2007. Phys. Rev. Lett. 99:088103] where DNA bending elasticity, described by the wormlike chain model, is coupled to base-pair denaturation, we demonstrate that small…
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 ion-induced long-range orientational order between water molecules recently observed in second harmonic scattering experiments and illustrated with large scale molecular dynamics simulations is quantitatively explained using the…
Recent experiments on liquid water show collective dipole orientation fluctuations dramatically slower then expected (with relaxation time $>$ 50 ns) [D. P. Shelton, Phys. Rev. B {\bf 72}, 020201(R) (2005)]. Molecular dynamics simulations…