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When mixed together, DNA and polyaminoamide (PAMAM) dendrimers form fibers that condense into a compact structure. We use optical tweezers to pull condensed fibers and investigate the decondensation transition by measuring force-extension…
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…
A phenomenological model based on the three-dimensional theory of nonlinear elasticity is developed to describe the phenomenon of overstretching in the force-extension curve for dsDNA. By using the concept of a material with multiple…
DNA bending is biologically important for genome regulation and is relevant to a range of nanotechnological systems. Recent results suggest that sharp bending is much easier than implied by the widely-used worm-like chain model; many of…
We examine the conformations of a model for under- and overwound DNA. The molecule is represented as a cylindrically symmetric elastic string subjected to a stretching force and to constraints corresponding to a specification of the link…
A simple model of a circularly closed dsDNA in a poor solvent is considered as an example of a semi-flexible polymer with self-attraction. To find the ground states, the conformational energy is computed as a sum of the bending and…
We propose a combined experimental (Atomic Force Microscopy) and theoretical study of the structural and dynamical properties of nucleosomes. In contrast to biochemical approaches, this method allows to determine simultaneously the DNA…
We study the melting of a double stranded DNA in the presence of stretching forces, via 3D Monte-Carlo simulations, exactly solvable models and heuristic arguments. The resulting force-temperature phase diagram is dramatically different for…
Mechanical properties of nucleic acids play an important role in many biological processes which often involve physical deformations of these molecules. At sufficiently long length scales (say above $\sim 20-30$ base pairs) the mechanics of…
The 3'-monofunctional adduct of cisplatin and d(CTCTG*G*TCTC)2 duplex DNA in solvent with explicit counter ions and water molecules were subjected to MD- simulation with AMBER force field on a nanosecond time scale. In order to simulate the…
Cooperativity plays an important role in the action of proteins bound to DNA. A simple, mechanical mechanism for cooperativity, in the form of a tension-mediated interaction between proteins bound to DNA at two different locations is…
Circular double stranded DNA has different topological states which are defined by their linking numbers. Equilibrium distribution of linking numbers can be obtained by closing a linear DNA into a circle by ligase. Using Monte Carlo…
Minuscule molecular forces can transform DNA into a structure that is elongated by more than half its original length. We demonstrate that this pronounced conformational transition is of relevance to ongoing experimental and theoretical…
Dynamics of the polymorphic A<->B transitions in DNA is compared for two polypurine sequences, poly(dA).poly(dT) and poly(dG).poly(dC), long known to exhibit contrasting properties in experiments. In free molecular dynamics simulations…
Structural changes in giant DNA induced by the addition of the flexible polymer PEG were examined by the method of single-DNA observation. In dilute DNA conditions, individual DNA assumes a compact state via a discrete coil-globule…
We investigate the translocation of a single stranded DNA (ssDNA) through a pore, which fluctuates between two conformations, by using coupled master equations (ME). The probability density function (PDF) of the first passage times (FPT) of…
This study demonstrates that the nanopore terraces constructed on a multilayer graphene sheet could be employed to con-trol the conformation and transportation of an ssDNA for nanopore sequencing. As adsorbed on a terraced graphene…
The hybridization and dehybridization of DNA subject to tension is relevant to fundamental genetic processes and to the design of DNA-based mechanobiology assays. While strong tension accelerates DNA melting and decelerates DNA annealing,…
Recent theoretical predictions on DNA mechanical separation induced by pulling forces are numerically tested within a model in which self-avoidance for DNA strands is fully taken into account. DNA strands are described by interacting pairs…
The effect of sequence heterogeneity on polynucleotide translocation across a pore and on simple models of molecular motors such as helicases, DNA polymerase/exonuclease and RNA polymerase is studied in detail. Pore translocation of RNA or…