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We study a model for a protein searching for a target, using facilitated diffusion, on a DNA molecule confined in a finite volume. The model includes three distinct pathways for facilitated diffusion: (a) sliding - in which the protein…
We study the target searching on the DNA for proteins in the presence of non-constant drift and non-Gaussian $\alpha$-stable L\'evy fluctuations. The target searching is realized by the facilitated diffusion process. The existing works are…
Strong experimental and theoretical evidence shows that transcription factors and other specific DNA-binding proteins find their sites using a two-mode search: alternating between 3D diffusion through the cell and 1D sliding along the DNA.…
Protein-DNA interactions are crucial for all biological processes. One of the most important fundamental aspects of these interactions is the process of protein searching and recognizing specific binding sites on DNA. A large number of…
Recognition and binding of specific sites on DNA by proteins is central for many cellular functions such as transcription, replication, and recombination. In the process of recognition, a protein rapidly searches for its specific site on a…
Some proteins can find their targets on DNA faster than by pure diffusion in the three-dimensional cytoplasm, through the process of facilitated diffusion: They can loosely bind to DNA and temporarily slide along it, thus being guided by…
We study a protein-DNA target search model with explicit DNA dynamics applicable to in vitro experiments. We show that the DNA dynamics plays a crucial role for the effectiveness of protein "jumps" between sites distant along the DNA…
The model of facilitated diffusion describes how DNA-binding proteins, such as transcription factors (TFs), find their chromosomal targets by combining 3D diffusion through the cytoplasm and 1D sliding along nonspecific DNA sequences. The…
Under dilute in vitro conditions transcription factors rapidly locate their target sequence on DNA by using the facilitated diffusion mechanism. However, whether this strategy of alternating between three-dimensional bulk diffusion and…
For most of the important processes in DNA metabolism, a protein has to reach a specific binding site on the DNA. The specific binding site may consist of just a few base pairs while the DNA is usually several millions of base pairs long.…
In mammalian cells, repair centers for DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) have been identified. However, previous researches predominantly rely on methods that induce specific DSBs by cutting particular DNA sequences. The clustering and its…
Protein-DNA interactions are critical for the successful functioning of all natural systems. The key role in these interactions is played by processes of protein search for specific sites on DNA. Although it has been studied for many years,…
Several processes in the cell, such as gene regulation, start when key proteins recognise and bind to short DNA sequences. However, as these sequences can be hundreds of million times shorter than the genome, they are hard to find by simple…
The mechanism allowing a protein to search of a target sequence on DNA is currently described as an intermittent process composed of 3D diffusion in bulk and 1D diffusion along the DNA molecule. Due to the relevant charge of protein and…
Proteins are known to locate their specific targets on DNA up to two orders of magnitude faster than predicted by the Smoluchowski three-dimensional diffusion rate. One of the mechanisms proposed to resolve this discrepancy is termed…
We study how Cas9, a central component of the CRISPR/Cas9 system, searches for a target sequence on the DNA. We propose a model that includes as key ingredients 3D diffusion, 1D sliding along the DNA, and the effect of short binding…
The process of protein search for specific binding sites on DNA is fundamentally important since it marks the beginning of all major biological processes. We present a theoretical investigation that probes the role of DNA sequence symmetry,…
We present Brownian dynamics simulations of the facilitated diffusion of a protein, modelled as a sphere with a binding site on its surface, along DNA, modelled as a semi-flexible polymer. We consider both the effect of DNA organisation in…
We study the impact of DNA coiling on the search rate of proteins moving along the DNA contour interspersed by three-dimensional (3D) bulk excursions. When the DNA is coiled proteins performing short 3D hops along a DNA segment can be…
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…