Related papers: Stretching and relaxation dynamics in double stran…
The interplay between bending of the molecule axis and appearance of disruptions in circular DNA molecules, with $\sim 100$ base pairs, is addressed. Three minicircles with different radii and almost equal content of AT and GC pairs are…
Studies of circular DNA confined to nanofluidic channels are relevant both from a fundamental polymer-physics perspective and due to the importance of circular DNA molecules in vivo. We here observe the unfolding of DNA from the circular to…
Although mechanical properties of DNA are well characterized at the kilo base-pair range, a number of recent experiments have suggested that DNA is more flexible at shorter length scales, which correspond to the regime that is crucial for…
We explore in detail the structural, mechanical and thermodynamic properties of a coarse-grained model of DNA similar to that introduced in Thomas E. Ouldridge, Ard A. Louis, Jonathan P.K. Doye, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104 178101 (2010). Effective…
Evolving biomolecular networks have to combine the stability against perturbations with flexibility allowing their constituents to assume new roles in the cell. Gene duplication followed by functional divergence of associated proteins is a…
The sequence-dependent elasticity of double-helical DNA on a nm length scale can be captured by the rigid base-pair model, whose strains are the relative position and orientation of adjacent base-pairs. Corresponding elastic potentials have…
Advances in DNA nanotechnology have stimulated the search for simple motifs that can be used to control the properties of DNA nanostructures. One such motif, which has been used extensively in structures such as polyhedral cages,…
For short DNA molecules in crowded environments, we evaluate macroscopic parameters such as the average end-to-end distance and the twist conformation by tuning the strength of the site specific confinement driven by the crowders. The…
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…
We study the melting of a double stranded DNA in the presence of stretching forces, via 3D Monte-Carlo simulations, exactly solvable models and heuristic arguments. The resulting force-temperature phase diagram is dramatically different for…
Most living systems rely on double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) to store their genetic information and perpetuate themselves. This biological information has been considered the main target of evolution. However, here we show that symmetries and…
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.…
Because of the double-helical structure of DNA, in which two strands of complementary nucleotides intertwine around each other, a covalently closed DNA molecule with no interruptions in either strand can be viewed as two interlocked…
We examine the conformations of a model for a short segment of closed DNA. The molecule is represented as a cylindrically symmetric elastic rod with a constraint corresponding to a specification of the linking number. We obtain analytic…
While stretching of most polymer chains leads to rather featureless force-extension diagrams, some, notably DNA, exhibit non-trivial behavior with a distinct plateau region. Here we propose a unified theory that connects force-extension…
A simple model of a circularly closed dsDNA in a poor solvent is considered as an example of a semi-flexible polymer with self-attraction. To find the ground states, the conformational energy is computed as a sum of the bending and…
DNA supercoiling plays an important role in a variety of cellular processes. The torsional stress related with supercoiling may be also involved in gene regulation through the local structure and dynamics of the double helix. To check this…
By combining analytical theory and Molecular Dynamics simulations we study the relaxation dynamics of DNA circular plasmids that initially undergo a local twist perturbation. We identify three distinctive time scales; (I) a rapid relaxation…
We present a simple model which describes elastic response of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) to stretching, including the regime of very high force (up to 1000 pN). ssDNA is modelled as a discreet persistent chain, whose ground state is a…
As a key molecule of Life, Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the focus of numbers of investigations with the help of biological, chemical and physical techniques. From a physical point of view, both experimental and theoretical works have…