Related papers: Stretching, Twisting and Supercoiling in Short, Si…
DNA loop formation is one of several mechanisms used by organisms to regulate genes. The free energy of forming a loop is an important factor in determining whether the associated gene is switched on or off. In this paper we use an elastic…
The complex mechanisms governing charge migration in DNA oligomers reflect the rich structural and electronic properties of the molecule of life. Controlling the mechanical stability of DNA nanowires in charge transport experiments is a…
Flexibility of short DNA helices is important for the biological functions such as nucleosome formation and DNA-protein recognition. Recent experiments suggest that short DNAs of tens of base pairs (bps) may have apparently higher…
Recent experimental data indicate that the elastic wormlike rod model of DNA that works well on long length scales may break down on shorter scales relevant to biology. According to Noy and Golestanian (Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 228101, 2012)…
Mechanical properties of DNA, in particular their stretch dependent extension and their loop formation characteristics, have been recognized as an effective probe for understanding the possible biochemical role played by them in a living…
We construct a theoretical model for the dynamics of a microscale colloidal particle, modeled as an interval, moving horizontally on a DNA-coated surface, modelled as a line coated with springs that can stick to the interval. Averaging over…
Effect of bending anisotropy on a planar DNA loop, using energy minimization and neglecting entropic effects, is studied. We show that the anisotropy results in polygonal shape of the loop and increasing the anisotropy makes the edges…
The influence of decoherence and bonding on the linear conductance of single double-stranded DNA molecules is examined by fitting a phenomenological statistical model developed recently (EPJB {\bf 68}, 237 (2009)) to experimental results.…
Single-molecule experiments provide new insights into biological processes hitherto not accessible by measurements performed on bulk systems. We report on a study of the kinetics of a triple-branch DNA molecule with four conformational…
We propose that supercoiling energizes double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) so as to facilitate thermal fluctuations to an unzipped state. We support this with a model of two elastic rods coupled via forces that represent base pair interactions.…
To study the elastic properties of rod-like DNA nanostructures, we perform long simulations of these structure using the oxDNA coarse-grained model. By analysing the fluctuations in these trajectories we obtain estimates of the bend and…
The influence of tension on DNA looping has been studied both experimentally and theoretically in the past. However, different theoretical models have yielded different predictions, leaving uncertainty about their validity. We briefly…
We studied the electrical conductivity of DNA molecules with conducting atomic force microscopy as a function of the chemical nature of the substrate surfaces, the nature of the electrical contact, and the number of DNA molecules (from a…
The equilibrium three dimensional shape of relatively short loops of DNA is studied using an elastic model that takes into account anisotropy in bending rigidities. Using a reasonable estimate for the anisotropy, it is found that cyclized…
We use the "magnetic tweezers" technique to reveal the structural transitions that DNA undergoes in the force-torsion space. In particular, we focus on regions corresponding to negative supercoiling. These regions are characterized by the…
We present Monte-Carlo (MC) simulations of the stretching of a single 30 nm chromatin fiber. The model approximates the DNA by a flexible polymer chain with Debye-H\"uckel electrostatics and uses a two-angle zig-zag model for the geometry…
The mechanism of threshold elongation (overstretching) of DNA macromolecules under the action of external force is studied within the framework of phenomenological approach. When considering the task it is taken into account that…
The free energy of looping DNA by proteins and protein complexes determines to what extent distal DNA sites can affect each other. We inferred its in vivo value through a combined computational-experimental approach for different lengths of…
For an understanding of DNA elasticity at high mechanical loads (F > 30 pN), its helical nature needs to be taken into account, in the form of coupling between the twist and stretch degrees of freedom. The prevailing model for DNA…
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…