Related papers: DNA toroids form via a flower intermediate
The scaling properties of DNA knots of different complexities were studied by atomic force microscope. Following two different protocols DNA knots are adsorbed onto a mica surface in regimes of (i) strong binding, that induces a kinetic…
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…
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 translocation of structured RNA or DNA molecules through narrow pores necessitates the opening of all base pairs. Here, we study the interplay between the dynamics of translocation and base-pairing theoretically, using kinetic Monte…
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…
We deduced the torque applied on a single stretched and twisted DNA by integrating with respect to force the change in the molecule's extension as it is coiled. While consistent with previous direct measurements of the torque at high forces…
DNA is now firmly established as a versatile and robust platform for achieving synthetic nanostructures. While the folding of single molecules into complex structures is routinely achieved through engineering basepair sequences, much less…
A novel non-invasive microscopy technique for imaging and sizing of folded DNA molecules with the use of photovoltaic tweezers and phase-sensitive detection is elaborated and realized. This novel method is compared with the state-of-the-art…
Cells operate in part by compartmentalizing chemical reactions. For example, recent work has shown that chromatin, the material that contains the cell's genome, can auto-regulate its structure by utilizing reaction products (proteins, RNA)…
Thermophoresis moves molecules along temperature gradients, typically from hot to cold. We superpose fluid flow with thermophoretic molecule flow under well defined microfluidic conditions, imaged by fluorescence microscopy. DNA is trapped…
Motivated by recent experiments, we develop a model for DNA toroids under external tension. We find that tori are the equilibrium states for our model up to a critical tension, above which they become only metstable. Above this tension, we…
A single semiflexible polymer chain folds into a toroidal object under poor solvent conditions. In this study, we examined the morphological change in such a toroidal state as a function of the width and stiffness of the chain together with…
Interest in studying the interaction of small molecules with DNA is caused by the need to develop new, highly effective, and low-toxic drugs for cancer treatment. The strong and highly specific binding of thionine with DNA makes it a…
The formation of polaron and its migration in a DNA chain are studied within a semiclassical Peyrard-Biship-Holstein polaron model. Comparing the energetics of the polaron system found from the quantum chemical and semiclassical…
Although a vast amount of experimental information is available on the elongation, compression, and folding of proteins in biochemical processes, very little is known about the real structure and molecular dynamics of DNA at an atomic…
Bottom-up fabrication of inorganic nanostructures is emerging as an alternative to classical top-down approaches, offering precise nanometer-scale control at relatively low cost and effort. In particular, DNA nanostructures provide…
The formation of DNA loops by proteins and protein complexes is ubiquitous to many fundamental cellular processes, including transcription, recombination, and replication. Here we review recent advances in understanding the properties of…
We characterize the equilibrium thermodynamics of a thick polymer confined in a spherical region of space. This is used to gain insight into the DNA packaging process. The experimental reference system for the present study is the recent…
We report a study of DNA (150 bp fragments) conformations in very low added salt $<0.05$mM, across wide DNA concentration range $0.0015\leq c \leq 8$~mM (bp). We found an intermediate DNA conformation in the region $0.05 < c < 1$~mM, by…
There is now a certain consensus that Transcription Factors (TFs) reach their target sites, where they regulate gene transcription, via a mechanism dubbed facilitated diffusion (FD). In FD, the TF cycles between events of 3D-diffusion in…