Related papers: DNA uptake into nuclei: Numerical and analytical r…
The symmetries of the DNA double helix require a new term in its linear response to stress: the coupling between twist and stretch. Recent experiments with torsionally-constrained single molecules give the first direct measurement of this…
Tethered particle experiments use light microscopy to measure the position of a micrometer-sized bead tethered to a microscope slide via a ~micrometer length polymer, in order to infer the behavior of the invisible polymer. Currently, this…
We develop a correlation-corrected transport theory in order to predict ionic and polymer transport properties of membrane nanopores in physical conditions where mean-field electrostatics breaks down. The experimentally observed low KCl…
While the statistical mechanical description of DNA has a long tradition, renewed interest in DNA melting from a physics perspective is nourished by measurements of the fluctuation dynamics of local denaturation bubbles by single molecule…
Recent theoretical predictions on DNA mechanical separation induced by pulling forces are numerically tested within a model in which self-avoidance for DNA strands is fully taken into account. DNA strands are described by interacting pairs…
Nanochannels provide means for detailed experiments on the effect of confinement on biomacromolecules, such as DNA. We here introduce a model for the complete unfolding of DNA from the circular to linear configuration. Two main ingredients…
DNA in sperm cells must undergo an extreme compaction to almost crystalline packing levels. To produce this dense packing, DNA is condensed by protamine, a positively charged protein that loops the DNA into a toroid. Our goal is to…
We investigate diffusion-limited reactions between a diffusing particle and a target site on a semiflexible polymer, a key factor determining the kinetics of DNA-protein binding and polymerization of cytoskeletal filaments. Our theory…
Nucleic acids and proteins are not only biologically important polymers: They have recently been recognized as novel functional materials surpassing in many aspects the conventional ones. Although Herculean efforts have been undertaken to…
RNA folding is a kinetic process governed by the competition of a large number of structures stabilized by the transient formation of base pairs that may induce complex folding pathways and the formation of misfolded structures. Despite of…
We discuss how a balance can be established between the force acting to eject DNA from viral capsids and the force resisting its entry into a colloidal suspension which mimics the host cell cytoplasm. The ejection force arises from the…
The possible role of quantum effects in transfer of genetic information is studied. It's argued that the nucleotides selection during DNA replication is performed by means of proton tunneling between nucleotide and DNA-polimerase bound by…
Charge inversion of a DNA double helix by an oppositely charged flexible polyelectrolyte (PE) is widely used for gene delivery. It is considered here in terms of discrete charges of DNA. We concentrate on the worst scenario case when in the…
The effect of the microscopic structure of a pore on polymer translocation is studied using Langevin dynamics simulation, and the consequence of introducing patterned stickiness inside the pore is investigated. It is found that the…
DNA migration in topologically structured microchannels with periodic cavities is investigated experimentally and with Brownian dynamics simulations of a simple bead-spring model. The results are in very good agreement with one another. In…
Motivated by DNA electrophoresis near a nanopore, we consider the flow field around an "elongated jet", a long thin source which injects momentum into a liquid. This solution qualitatively describes the electro-osmotic flow around a long…
The principles underlying protein folding remains one of Nature's puzzles with important practical consequences for Life. An approach that has gathered momentum since the late 1990's, looks at protein hetero-polymers and their folding…
RNA polymerase (RNAP) is a mobile molecular workshop that polymerizes a RNA molecule by adding monomeric subunits one by one, while moving step by step on the DNA template itself. Here we develop a theoretical model by incorporating the…
The volume occupied by unconstrained bacterial DNA in physiological solutions exceeds 1000 times the volume of the cell. Still, it is confined to a well defined region of the cell called the nucleoid, which occupies only a fraction of the…
Dynamics of DNA bubbles are of interest for both statistical physics and biology. We present exact solutions to the Fokker-Planck equation governing bubble dynamics in the presence of a long-range entropic interaction. The complete meeting…