Related papers: Simulation and analysis of in vitro DNA evolution
We describe a simple model of evolution which incorporates the branching and extinction of species lines, and also includes abiotic influences. A first principles approach is taken in which the probability for speciation and extinction are…
Which factors govern the evolution of mutation rates and emergence of species? Here, we address this question using a first principles model of life where population dynamics of asexual organisms is coupled to molecular properties and…
Several processes in the cell, such as gene regulation, start when key proteins recognise and bind to short DNA sequences. However, as these sequences can be hundreds of million times shorter than the genome, they are hard to find by simple…
Gene regulation involves a hierarchy of events that extend from specific protein-DNA interactions to the combinatorial assembly of nucleoprotein complexes. The effects of DNA sequence on these processes have typically been studied based…
Point mutations can surely be dangerous but what is worst than to lose the reading frame?! Does DNA evolved a strategy to try to limit frameshift mutations?! Here we investigate if DNA sequences effectively evolved a system to minimize…
A multiscale approach is used to simulate the translocation of DNA through a nanopore. Within this scheme, the interactions of the molecule with the surrounding fluid (solvent) are explicitly taken into account. By generating polymers of…
A general theoretical framework is put forth to organize and understand various observed phenomena and mathematical relationships in the field of molecular biology. By modeling each cell in eukaryotic organisms as a processor having a…
We introduce a probabilistic model for protein sliding motion along DNA during the search of a target sequence. The model accounts for possible effects due to sequence-dependent interaction between the nonspecific DNA and the protein. As an…
Living cells provide a fluctuating, out-of-equilibrium environment in which genes must coordinate cellular function. DNA looping, which is a common means of regulating transcription, is very much a stochastic process; the loops arise from…
Much evolutionary information is stored in the fluctuations of protein length distributions. The genome size and non-coding DNA content can be calculated based only on the protein length distributions. So there is intrinsic relationship…
All known life forms are based upon a hierarchy of interwoven feedback loops, operating over a cascade of space, time and energy scales. Among the most basic loops are those connecting DNA and proteins. For example, in genetic networks, DNA…
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…
We construct a theoretical model for the dynamics of a microscale colloidal particle, modeled as an interval, moving horizontally on a DNA-coated surface, modelled as a line coated with springs that can stick to the interval. Averaging over…
Quantum effects are mainly used for the determination of molecular shapes in molecular biology, but quantum information theory may be a more useful tool to understand the physics of life. Organic molecules and quantum circuits/protocols can…
Much of the complexity observed in gene regulation originates from cooperative protein-DNA binding. While studies of the target search of proteins for their specific binding sites on the DNA have revealed design principles for the…
We study genetic networks that produce many species of non-coding RNA molecules that are present at a moderate density, as typically exists in the cell. The associations of the many species of these RNA are modeled physically, taking into…
A versatile approach to modeling the conformations and energetics of DNA loops is presented. The model is based on the classical theory of elasticity, modified to describe the intrinsic twist and curvature of DNA, the DNA bending…
Computer modelling for evolutionary systems consists in: 1) to store in the memory the individual features of each member of a large population; and 2) to update the whole system repeatedly, as time goes by, according to some prescribed…
The percentage and sequence of AT and GC base pairs and charges on the DNA backbone contribute significantly to the stiffness of DNA. This elastic property of DNA also changes with small interacting ligands. The single-molecule force…
Gene expression and regulation rely on an apparently finely tuned set of reactions between some proteins and DNA. Such DNA-binding proteins have to find specific sequences on very long DNA molecules and they mostly do so in absence of any…