Related papers: Kinetoplast DNA: a polymer physicist's Olympic dre…
We investigate the dynamics of a particle moving randomly along a disordered hetero-polymer subjected to rapid conformational changes which induce superdiffusive motion in chemical coordinates. We study the antagonistic interplay between…
DNA looping is important in DNA condensation and regulation. One method for forming a DNA loop, thought to be used by the condensing agent protamine, is bind-and-bend. In bind-and-bend, molecules bind all along the DNA, each creating a bend…
Proteins are a matter of dual nature. As a physical object, a protein molecule is a folded chain of amino acids with multifarious biochemistry. But it is also an instantiation along an evolutionary trajectory determined by the function…
We study the elastic response of a worm-like polymer chain with reversible kink-like structural defects. This is a generic model for (a) the double-stranded DNA with sharp bends induced by binding of certain proteins, and (b) effects of…
We present micro-rheological measurments of the drag force on colloids pulled through a solution of lambda-DNA (used here as a monodisperse model polymer) with an optical tweezer. The experiments show a violation of the Stokes-Einstein…
In this study, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from bananas was extracted and functionalized and used for the first time as a homeotropic alignment layer for liquid crystals (LCs). Our research was aimed at extracting and investigating DNA from…
Many fundamental biological processes are regulated by protein-DNA complexes called {\it synaptosomes}, which possess multiple interaction sites. Despite the critical importance of synaptosomes, the mechanisms of their formation remain not…
Replication and transcription are two important processes in living systems. To execute such processes, various proteins work far away from equilibrium in a staggered way. Motivated by this, aspects of hysteresis during unzipping of DNA…
DNA nanotechnology promises to provide controllable self-assembly on the nanoscale, allowing for the design of static structures, dynamic machines and computational architectures. In this article I review the state-of-the art of DNA…
The cells and tissues that make up our body juggle contradictory mechanical demands. It is crucial for their survival to be able to withstand large mechanical loads, but it is equally crucial for them to produce forces and actively change…
When pulled along its axis, double-stranded DNA elongates abruptly at a force of about 65 pN. Two physical pictures have been developed to describe this overstretched state. The first proposes that strong forces induce a phase transition to…
Nucleosome core particle is a dynamic structure -- DNA may transiently peel off the histone octamer surface due to thermal fluctuations or the action of chromatin remodeling enzymes. Partial DNA unwrapping enables easier access of…
We develop a minimal system to study the stochastic formation of Borromean links within topologically entangled networks without requiring the use of knot invariants. Borromean linkages may form in entangled solutions of open polymer chains…
We showed in our previous studies that just $3\%$ cross-links, at special points along the contour of the bacterial DNA help the DNA-polymer to get organized at micron length scales \cite{jpcm,epl}. In this work, we investigate how does the…
The interaction between light and matter can be controlled efficiently by structuring materials at a length scale shorter than the wavelength of interest. With the goal to build optical devices that operate at the nanoscale, plasmonics has…
In bacteria, regulatory proteins search for a specific DNA binding target via "facilitated diffusion": a series of rounds of 3D diffusion in the cytoplasm, and 1D linear diffusion along the DNA contour. Using large scale Brownian dynamics…
Magnetotactic bacteria synthesize linear chains of magnetite nanoparticles within their bodies, which allow the bacteria to navigate the Earth's magnetic field in search of the best habitat. Biogenic magnetite particles, called…
More than 30 years ago, we published a paper entitled as abnormal chromatin configuration and oncogenesis, which proposed the first hypothesis that links oncogenesis to abnormal three-dimensional (3D) genome structure. Recently, many…
DNA frequently adopts liquid-crystalline conformations in both cells and viruses. The Oseen--Frank framework provides a powerful continuum description of these phases through three elastic moduli: splay ($K_1$), twist or cholesteric…
DNA self-assembly is a robust and programmable approach for building structures at nanoscale. Researchers around the world have proposed and implemented different techniques to build two dimensional and three dimensional nano structures.…