Related papers: Polymer Modelling Predicts Chromosome Reorganisati…
During the eukaryotic cell cycle, chromatin undergoes several conformational changes, which are believed to play key roles in gene expression regulation during interphase, and in genome replication and division during mitosis. In this…
Given the wide range of length scales, the analysis of polymer systems often requires coarse-graining, for which various levels of description may be possible depending on the phenomenon under consideration. Here, we provide a super-coarse…
The connection between chromatin nuclear organization and gene activity is vividly illustrated by the observation that transcriptional coregulation of certain genes appears to be directly influenced by their spatial proximity. This fact…
In the human genomes, recombination frequency between homologous chromosomes during meiosis is highly correlated with their physical length while it differs significantly when their coding density is considered. Furthermore, it has been…
We investigate a model of cell division in which the length of telomeres within the cell regulate their proliferative potential. At each cell division the ends of linear chromosomes change and a cell becomes senescent when one or more of…
We study the conformational properties of heteropolymers containing two types of monomers A and B, modeled as self-avoiding random walks on a regular lattice. Such a model can describe in particular the sequences of hydrophobic and…
Reconciling the stability of epigenetic patterns with the rapid turnover of histone modifications and their adaptability to external stimuli is an outstanding challenge. Here, we propose a new biophysical mechanism that can establish and…
We perform simulations of a system containing simple model proteins and a polymer representing chromatin. We study the interplay between protein-protein and protein-chromatin interactions, and the resulting condensates which arise due to…
Cellular membranes are a heterogeneous mix of lipids, proteins and small molecules. Special groupings of saturated lipids and cholesterol form a liquid-ordered phase, known as `lipid rafts,' serving as platforms for signaling, trafficking…
Increasing evidence suggests that chromosome folding and genetic expression are intimately connected. For example, the co-expression of a large number of genes can benefit from their spatial co-localization in the cellular space.…
Modeling of polymer oxidative aging has been actively studied since the 1990s. Insights from these studies suggest that the transport of oxygen and radicals significantly influences aging heterogeneity, alongside chemical reaction kinetics.…
The contributions of active deformation dynamics in cell nuclei to the intra-nuclear positioning of hetero- and euchromatin are investigated. We analyzed the behaviors of model chains containing two types of regions, one with high and the…
We use a coarse-grained molecular model to study the self-assembly process of complexes of cationic and neutral lipids with DNA molecules ("lipoplexes") - a promising nonviral carrier of DNA for gene therapy. We identify the resulting…
Proteins in photosynthetic membranes can organize into patterned arrays that span the membrane's lateral size. Attractions between proteins in different layers of a membrane stack can play a key role in this ordering, as was suggested by…
Organogenesis is a tightly regulated process that has been studied experimentally for decades. We are developing mechanistic models for the morphogenesis of limbs, lungs, and kidneys with a view to integrate available knowledge and to…
We propose a polymer model for the dynamics of chromatin replication in three dimensional space. Our simulations indicate that both immobile and tracking replisomes may self-assemble during the process, reconciling previous apparently…
Epigenetic modifications to histones may promote either activation or repression of the transcription of nearby genes. Recent experimental studies show that the promoters of many lineage-control genes in stem cells have "bivalent domains"…
The spatial organization of chromatin within the nucleus plays a crucial role in gene expression and genome function. However, the quantitative relationship between this organization and nuclear biochemical processes remains under debate.…
One of the central problems in epigenetics is how epigenetic modification patterns and chromatin structure are regulated in the cell nucleus. The polymer Potts model, a recently studied model of chromatins, is introduced with an offset in…
Chromatin is repeatedly deformed in vivo during transcription, nuclear remodeling, and confined migration - yet how mechanical response varies from locus to locus, and how it relates to epigenetic state, remains unclear. We develop a theory…