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Related papers: Universal Cold RNA Phase Transitions

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We study numerically the behavior of RNA secondary structures under influence of a varying external force. This allows to measure the work $W$ during the resulting fast unfolding and refolding processes. Here, we investigate a medium-size…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2021-09-15 Peter Werner , Alexander K. Hartmann

One dramatic feature of network liquids is the emergence at low temperatures and high pressures of polyamorphism, where multiple distinct liquid phases are accessed in a single material. Polyamorphism can arise from the competition between…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-05-07 Max Hall-Brown , Peter Guy Wolynes

By exerting mechanical force it is possible to unfold/refold RNA molecules one at a time. In a small range of forces, an RNA molecule can hop between the folded and the unfolded state with force-dependent kinetic rates. Here, we introduce a…

Biological Physics · Physics 2012-08-27 M. Manosas , J. -D. Wen , P. T. X. Li , S. B. Smith , C. Bustamante , I. Tinoco, , F. Ritort

RNA molecules form a sequence-specific self-pairing pattern at low temperatures. We analyze this problem using a random pairing energy model as well as a random sequence model that includes a base stacking energy in favor of helix…

Biomolecules · Quantitative Biology 2009-11-13 Sheng Hui , Lei-Han Tang

Existing state-of-the-art methods that take a single RNA sequence and predict the corresponding RNA secondary-structure are thermodynamic methods. These predict the most stable RNA structure, but do not consider the process of structure…

Biomolecules · Quantitative Biology 2012-07-26 Jeff R. Proctor , Irmtraud M. Meyer

We have managed to correlate the stability constants of complex formation, which can be registered in equilibrium state, to the dynamic characteristic of the complex lifetime. Thus, the principal concept of molecular biophysics regarding…

RNA function crucially depends on its structure. Thermodynamic models currently used for secondary structure prediction rely on computing the partition function of folding ensembles, and can thus estimate minimum free-energy structures and…

Biomolecules · Quantitative Biology 2022-07-26 Nicola Calonaci , Alisha Jones , Francesca Cuturello , Michael Sattler , Giovanni Bussi

Attempts to understand zero temperature phase transitions have forced physicists to consider a regime where the standard paradigms of condensed matter physics break down [1-4]. These quantum critical systems lack a simple description in…

Quantum Gases · Physics 2012-07-04 Kaden R. A. Hazzard , Erich J. Mueller

DNA has a well-defined structural transition -- the denaturation of its double-stranded form into two single strands -- that strongly affects its thermal transport properties. We show that, according to a widely implemented model for DNA…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2013-02-12 Chih-Chun Chien , Kirill A. Velizhanin , Yonatan Dubi , Michael Zwolak

In the cell, proteins fold and perform complex functions through global structural rearrangements. Function requires a protein to be at the brink of stability to be susceptible to small environmental fluctuations, yet stable enough to…

The Laessig-Wiese (LW) field theory for the freezing transition of random RNA secondary structures is generalized to the situation of an external force. We find a second-order phase transition at a critical applied force f = f_c. For f <…

Biomolecules · Quantitative Biology 2007-06-13 Francois David , Christian Hagendorf , Kay Joerg Wiese

Achieving a coherent understanding of the many thermodynamic and dynamic anomalies of water is among the most important unsolved puzzles in physics, chemistry, and biology. One hypothesized explanation imagines the existence of a line of…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2012-06-01 Tobias Kesselring , Giancarlo Franzese , Sergey Buldyrev , Hans Herrmann , H. Eugene Stanley

As a consequence of the rugged landscape of RNA molecules their folding is described by the kinetic partitioning mechanism according to which only a small fraction ($\phi_F$) reaches the folded state while the remaining fraction of…

Biomolecules · Quantitative Biology 2017-01-24 Changbong Hyeon , D. Thirumalai

We apply Kramers theory to investigate the dissociation of multiple bonds under mechanical force and interpret experimental results for the unfolding/refolding force distributions of an RNA hairpin pulled at different loading rates using…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2009-11-11 M. Manosas , D. Collin , F. Ritort

The denaturation of double-stranded DNA as function of force and temperature is discussed. At room temperature, sequence heterogeneity dominates the physics of single molecule force-extension curves starting about 7 piconewtons of below a…

Condensed Matter · Physics 2007-05-23 David R. Nelson

Predicting the secondary structure of RNA is a core challenge in computational biology, essential for understanding molecular function and designing novel therapeutics. The field has evolved from foundational but accuracy-limited…

Biomolecules · Quantitative Biology 2026-05-20 Giuseppe Sacco , Giovanni Bussi , Guido Sanguinetti

The increasing importance of RNA as a prime player in biology can hardly be overstated. Problems in RNA, such as folding and RNA-RNA interactions that drive phase separation, require cations. Because experiments alone cannot reveal the…

Biomolecules · Quantitative Biology 2025-06-10 D. Thirumalai , Naoto Hori , Hung T. Nguyen

Using force as a probe to map the folding landscapes of RNA molecules has become a reality thanks to major advances in single molecule pulling experiments. Although the unfolding pathways under tension are complicated to predict studies in…

Biological Physics · Physics 2018-03-14 Changbong Hyeon , D. Thirumalai

Protein folding is analyzed using a replica variational formalism to investigate some free energy landscape characteristics relevant for dynamics. A random contact interaction model that satisfies the minimum frustration principle is used…

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Physics 2009-10-30 Shoji Takada , Peter G. Wolynes

We present a thermodynamically robust coarse-grained model to simulate folding of RNA in monovalent salt solutions. The model includes stacking, hydrogen bond and electrostatic interactions as fundamental components in describing the…

Biomolecules · Quantitative Biology 2013-04-16 Natalia A. Denesyuk , D. Thirumalai