Related papers: Heterogeneous biological membranes regulate protei…
We analyze the stability of micro-domains of ligand-receptor bonds that mediate the adhesion of biological model membranes. After evaluating the effects of membrane fluctuations on the binding affinity of a single bond, we characterize the…
Particles diffusing near interfaces face anisotropic resistance to motion due to hydrodynamic interactions. While this has been extensively studied near \textit{hard} interfaces since the works of Lorentz and Brenner, our understanding of…
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…
In living cells, proteins combine 3D bulk diffusion and 1D sliding along the DNA to reach a target faster. This process is known as facilitated diffusion, and we investigate its dynamics in the physiologically relevant case of confined DNA.…
The motion of a eukaryotic cell presents a variety of interesting and challenging problems from both a modeling and a computational perspective. The processes span many spatial scales (from molecular to tissue) as well as disparate time…
In order to inquire the microscopic origin of observed multiple time scales in solvation dynamics we carry out several computer experiments. We perform atomistic molecular dynamics simulations on three protein-water systems namely,…
We study the dynamics of hydration water/protein association in folded proteins, using lysozyme and myoglobin as examples. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations are performed to identify underlying mechanisms of the dynamical transition…
The internal dynamics of macro-molecular systems is characterized by widely separated time scales, ranging from fraction of ps to ns. In ordinary molecular dynamics simulations, the elementary time step dt used to integrate the equation of…
Membrane organization is essential for cellular functions such as signal transduction and membrane trafficking. A major challenge is to understand the lateral heterogeneous structures in membranes and membrane fluidity in the presence of…
A driven diffusive model of three types of particles that exhibits phase separation on a ring is introduced. The dynamics is local and comprises nearest neighbor exchanges that conserve each of the three species. For the case in which the…
Diffusion can be conceptualized, at microscopic scales, as the random hopping of particles between neighboring lattice sites. In the case of diffusion in inhomogeneous media, distinct spatial domains in the system may yield distinct…
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…
Chemical reactions inside cells are generally considered to happen within fixed-size compartments. Needless to say, cells and their compartments are highly dynamic. Thus, such stringent assumptions may not reflect biochemical reality, and…
A driven system of three species of particle diffusing on a ring is studied in detail. The dynamics is local and conserves the three densities. A simple argument suggesting that the model should phase separate and break the translational…
Under dehydration conditions, amphipathic Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) proteins fold spontaneously from a random conformation into alpha-helical structures and this transition is promoted by the presence of membranes. To gain insight…
In the crowded eukaryotic nucleus, euchromatin and heterochromatin segregate into distinct compartments, a phenomenon often attributed to homotypic interactions mediated by liquid liquid phase separation of chromatin associated proteins.…
Understanding the (de)mixing behavior of multicomponent lipid bilayers is an important step towards unraveling the nature of spatial composition heterogeneities in cellular membranes and their role in biological function. We use…
Protein aggregation on the plasma membrane (PM) is of critical importance to many cellular processes such as cell adhesion, endocytosis, fibrillar conformation, and vesicle transport. Lateral diffusion of protein aggregates or clusters on…
We investigate the influence of a self-propelling, out-of-equilibrium active particle on generalized elastic systems, including flexible and semiflexible polymers, fluid membranes, and fluctuating interfaces, while accounting for…
Many biological processes are supported by special molecules, called motor proteins or molecular motors, that transport cellular cargoes along linear protein filaments and can reversibly associate to their tracks. Stimulated by these…