Related papers: Organisation and dynamics of individual DNA segmen…
The Kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) is a two-dimensional Olympic-ring-like network of mutually linked 2.5 kb-long DNA minicircles found in certain parasites called Trypanosomes. Understanding the self-assembly and replication of this structure are…
The kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) is the archetype of a two-dimensional Olympic network, composed of thousands of DNA minicircles and found in the mitochondrion of certain parasites. The evolution, replication and self-assembly of this structure…
The transport of macromolecules, such as DNA, through the cytoskeleton is critical to wide-ranging cellular processes from cytoplasmic streaming to transcription. The rigidity and steric hindrances imparted by the network of filaments…
We study theoretically the replication of Kinetoplast DNA consisting of several thousands separate mini-circles found in organisms of the class Kinetoplastida. When the cell is not actively dividing these are topologically connected in a…
Molecular topology of polymers plays a key role in determining their physical properties. We studied herein the topological effects on the static and dynamic properties of a 2D catenated network of DNA rings called a kinetoplast.…
Cytoskeletal crowding plays a key role in the diffusion of DNA molecules through the cell, acting as a barrier to effective intracellular transport and conformational stability required for such processes as transfection, viral infection,…
The binding of proteins onto DNA contributes to the shaping and packaging of genome as well as to the expression of specific genetic messages. With a view to understanding the interplay between the presence of proteins and the deformation…
Transcriptional activity has been shown to relate to the organization of chromosomes in the eukaryotic nucleus and in the bacterial nucleoid. In particular, highly transcribed genes, RNA polymerases and transcription factors gather into…
Complex dynamical systems are often modeled as networks, with nodes representing dynamical units which interact through the network's links. Gene regulatory networks, responsible for the production of proteins inside a cell, are an example…
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…
Topology affects physical and biological properties of DNA and impacts fundamental cellular processes, such as gene expression, genome replication, chromosome structure and segregation. In all organisms DNA topology is carefully modulated…
Assemblies of ring DNA and proteins, such as kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) and the chainmail-like network of the HK97 bacteriophage capsid, form "Olympic" topologies that govern the dynamics of gene-regulatory proteins, cellular metabolites, and…
All life forms are miraculous, but some are more inexplicable than others. Trypanosomes are by far one of the most puzzling organisms on Earth: their mitochondrial genome, also called kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) forms an Olympic-ring-like…
Many recent studies of liquid-liquid phase separation in biology focus on phase separation as a dynamic control mechanism for cellular function, but it can also result in complex mesoscopic structures. We primarily investigate a model…
Polymer architecture plays critical roles in both bulk rheological properties and microscale macromolecular dynamics in entangled polymer solutions and composites. Ring polymers, in particular, have been the topic of much debate due to the…
This paper introduces the use of cable dynamics models as a means to explore the mechanics of DNA on long-length scales. It is on these length scales that DNA forms twisted and curved three-dimensional shapes known as supercoils and loops.…
By using the Jensen-Shannon divergence, genomic DNA can be divided into compositionally distinct domains through a standard recursive segmentation procedure. Each domain, while significantly different from its neighbours, may however share…
Just like atoms combine into molecules, colloids can self-organize into predetermined structures according to a set of design principles. Controlling valence -- the number of inter-particle bonds -- is a prerequisite for the assembly of…
One important question in neuroscience is how global behavior in a brain network emerges from the interplay between network connectivity and the neural dynamics of individual nodes. To better understand this theoretical relationship, we…
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…