Related papers: Twist-stretch relations in nucleic acids
A unified model is constructed to study the recently observed DNA entropic elasticity, cooperative extensibility, and supercoiling property. With the introduction of a new structural parameter (the folding angle $\phi$), bending…
The macroscopic curvature induced in the double helical B-DNA by regularly repeated adenine tracts (A-tracts) plays an exceptional role in structural studies of DNA because this effect presents the most well-documented example of sequence…
The macroscopic curvature induced in the double helical B-DNA by regularly repeated adenine tracts (A-tracts) is a long known, but still unexplained phenomenon. This effect plays a key role in DNA studies because it is unique in the amount…
DNA deformations play crucial roles in many biological processes and material applications. During DNA deformation, DNA structural parameters often exhibit non-trivial and counterintuitive couplings, such as the twist-stretch and…
The theoretical study of deformability of special sequence of DNA double helix TATA-box is presentated. The paper elaborates on the mechanisms of abnormal deformation of DNA TATA-box double helix that cannot be explained using the standard…
DNA and other biopolymers differ from classical polymers due to their torsional stiffness. This property changes the statistical character of their conformations under tension from a classical random walk to a problem we call the `torsional…
The sequence-dependent structural variability and conformational dynamics of DNA play pivotal roles in many biological milieus, such as in the site-specific binding of transcription factors to target regulatory elements. To better…
The recently proposed compressed backbone theory suggested that the intrinsic curvature in DNA can result from a geometric mismatch between the specific backbone length and optimal base stacking orientations. It predicted that the curvature…
Recent magnetic tweezers experiments have reported systematic deviations of the twist response of double-stranded DNA from the predictions of the twistable worm-like chain model. Here we show, by means of analytical results and computer…
A detailed description of the conformational plasticity of double stranded DNA (ds) is a necessary framework for understanding protein-DNA interactions. Until now, however structure and kinetics of the transition from the basic conformation…
Recent experimental data indicate that the elastic wormlike rod model of DNA that works well on long length scales may break down on shorter scales relevant to biology. According to Noy and Golestanian (Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 228101, 2012)…
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…
The mechanical properties of DNA are typically described by elastic theories with purely local couplings (on-site models). We discuss and analyze coarse-grained (oxDNA) and all-atom simulations, which indicate that in DNA distal sites are…
The geometrical coupling between strain and twist in double helices is investigated. Overwinding, where strain leads to further winding, is shown to be a universal property for helices, which are stretched along their longitudinal axis when…
We modify and extend the recently developed statistical mechanical model for predicting the thermodynamic properties of chain molecules having noncovalent double-stranded conformations, as in RNA or ssDNA, and $\beta-$sheets in protein, by…
We present a phenomenological dynamical model able to describe the stretching features of the curve of DNA length vs applied force. As concerns the chain, the model is based on the discrete wormlike chain model with elastic modifications,…
Advances in DNA nanotechnology have stimulated the search for simple motifs that can be used to control the properties of DNA nanostructures. One such motif, which has been used extensively in structures such as polyhedral cages,…
Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) can fold into shapes that perform functions in the cell. These foldings are governed by Watson-Crick base pairing, namely Adenine to Uracil and Cytosine to Guanine (A-U and G-C). The properties of the H-P…
Simple elastic network models of DNA were developed to reveal the structure-dynamics relationships for several nucleotide sequences. First, we propose a simple all-atom elastic network model of DNA that can explain the profiles of…
The ubiquitous biomacromolecule DNA has an axial rigidity persistence length of ~50 nm, driven by its elegant double helical structure. While double and multiple helix structures appear widely in nature, only rarely are these found in…