Related papers: Double Helical Conformation and Extreme Rigidity i…
Characterization of medium-range order in amorphous materials and its relation to short-range order is discussed. A new topological approach is presented here to extract a hierarchical structure of amorphous materials, which is robust…
Most binary superlattices created using DNA functionalization or other approaches rely on particle size differences to achieve compositional order and structural diversity. Here we study two-dimensional (2D) assembly of DNA-functionalized…
Double-stranded DNA `overstretches' at a pulling force of about 65 pN, increasing in length by a factor of 1.7. The nature of the overstretched state is unknown, despite its considerable importance for DNA's biological function and…
The mechanical properties of molecules are today captured by single molecule manipulation experiments, so that polymer features are tested at a nanometric scale. Yet devising mathematical models to get further insight beyond the commonly…
Helices are a key folding motif in protein structure. The question which factors determine helix stability for a given polypeptide or protein is an ongoing challenge. Here we use van der Waals corrected density-functional theory to address…
Motivated by the wide ranging experimental results on the conductivity of DNA, we have investigated extraordinary configurations and chemical environments in which DNA might become a true molecular wire, perticularly from enhanced…
The human genome contains repetitive DNA at different level of sequence length, number and dispersion. Highly repetitive DNA is particularly rich in homo-- and di--nucleotide repeats, while middle repetitive DNA is rich of families of…
DNA sequences are prone to creating secondary structures by folding back on themselves by non-specific hybridization among its nucleotides. The formation of secondary structures makes the sequences chemically inactive towards synthesis and…
We systematically explore the self-assembly of semi-flexible polymers in deformable spherical confinement across a wide regime of chain stiffness, contour lengths and packing fractions by means of coarse-grained molecular dynamics…
Using continuum elasticity theory, we describe the elastic behavior of helical coils with an asymmetric double-helix structure and identify conditions, under which they become very rigid. Theoretical insight gained for macro-structures…
Multistep denaturation in a short circular DNA molecule is analyzed by a mesoscopic Hamiltonian model which accounts for the helicoidal geometry. Computation of melting profiles by the path integral method suggests that stacking…
We develop further a statistical model coupling denaturation and chain conformations in DNA (Palmeri J, Manghi M and Destainville N 2007 Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 088103). Our Discrete Helical Wormlike Chain model takes explicitly into account…
The twist-bend nematic liquid crystal phase is a three-dimensional fluid in which achiral bent molecules spontaneously form an orientationally ordered macroscopically chiral heliconical winding of molecular scale pitch, in absence of…
The probability distributions for bending angles in double helical DNA obtained in all-atom molecular dynamics simulations are compared with theoretical predictions. The computed distributions remarkably agree with the worm-like chain…
The structure of DNA double helix is stabilized by metal counterions condensed to a diffuse layer around the macromolecule. The dynamics of counterions in real conditions is governed by the electric fields from DNA and other biological…
Chain-like macromolecules in solution, whether biological or synthetic, transform from a spatially extended conformation to a compact one upon change of temperature or solvent qualities. This sharp transition plays a key role in various…
The strong bending of polymers is poorly understood. We propose a general quantitative framework of polymer bending that includes both the weak and strong bending regimes on the same footing, based on a single general physical principle. As…
Many structures inside the cell such as nucleosomes and protein-mediated DNA loops contain sharply bent double-stranded (ds) DNA. Therefore, the energetics of strong dsDNA bending constitutes an essential part of cellular thermodynamics.…
The presence of low dimensional chaos in the protein secondary structures, using the binary coded $\alpha$-helices and $\beta$-sheet motifs, has been investigated. In order to analyse symbolic DNA/RNA sequences the assignment, based on the…
Proteins are linear chain molecules that play a central role in life and health. Protein native state folds are modular assemblies of space-filling building blocks of {\alpha}-helices, \{beta}-sheets and tight turns. Here we deduce the…