Related papers: Yeast condensin acts as a transient intermolecular…
Our understanding of how chromosomes structurally organize and dynamically interact has been revolutionized through the lens of long-chain polymer physics. Major protein contributors to chromosome structure and dynamics are condensin and…
Cells regulate gene expression in part by forming DNA-protein condensates in the nucleus. While existing theories describe the equilibrium size and stability of such condensates, their dynamics remain less understood. Here, we use…
Condensation of hundreds of mega-base-pair-long human chromosomes in a small nuclear volume is a spectacular phenomenon. This process is driven by the formation of chromosome loops. ATP consuming motor, condensin, interacts with chromatin…
Topological entanglements severely interfere with important biological processes. For this reason, genomes must be kept unknotted and unlinked during most of a cell cycle. Type II Topoisomerase (TopoII) enzymes play an important role in…
A prominent organizational feature of bacterial chromosomes was revealed by Hi-C experiments, indicating anomalously high contacts between the left and right chromosomal arms. These long-range contacts have been attributed to various…
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…
The chromatin fiber is a complex of DNA and specific proteins called histones forming the first structural level of organization of eukaryotic chromosomes. In tightly organized chromatin fibers, the short segments of naked DNA linking the…
DNA is increasingly employed for bio and nanotechnology thanks to its exquisite versatility and designability. Most of its use is limited to linearised and torsionally relaxed DNA but non-trivial architectures and torsionally constrained --…
Structural Maintenance Complexes (SMC) are energy consuming motors that are important in folding the genome by loop extrusion (LE) in all stages of the cell cycle. Single molecule magnetic tweezer pulling experiments have revealed that…
During the eukaryotic cell cycle, chromatin undergoes several conformational changes, which are believed to play key roles in gene expression regulation during interphase, and in genome replication and division during mitosis. In this…
We consider multi-chain protein native structures and propose a criterion that determines whether two chains in the system are entangled or not. The criterion is based on the behavior observed by pulling at both temini of each chain…
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,…
Cells operate in part by compartmentalizing chemical reactions. For example, recent work has shown that chromatin, the material that contains the cell's genome, can auto-regulate its structure by utilizing reaction products (proteins, RNA)…
The formation of DNA loops by proteins and protein complexes that bind at distal DNA sites plays a central role in many cellular processes, such as transcription, recombination, and replication. Here we review the basic thermodynamic…
During mitosis, near-spherical chromosomes reconfigure into rod-like structures to ensure their accurate segregation to daughter cells. We explore here, the interplay between the nonequilibrium activity of molecular motors in determining…
Evidence accumulated over the past decade provides support for liquid-liquid phase separation as the mechanism underlying the formation of biomolecular condensates, which include not only membraneless organelles such as nucleoli and RNA…
Recent progress has been made in the understanding of the physical properties of chromatin -- the dense complex of DNA and histone proteins that occupies the nuclei of plant and animal cells. Here I will focus on the two lowest levels of…
The chromatin folding and the spatial arrangement of chromosomes in the cell play a crucial role in DNA replication and genes expression. An improper chromatin folding could lead to malfunctions and, over time, diseases. For eukaryotes,…
Living cells exhibit a complex organization comprising numerous compartments, among which are RNA- and protein-rich membraneless, liquid-like organelles known as biomolecular condensates. Energy-consuming processes regulate their formation…
Developing construction methods of materials tailored for given applications with absolute control over building block placement poses an immense challenge. DNA-coated colloids offer the possibility of realising programmable self-assembly,…