Related papers: Reversible B/A Transitions in Single DNA Molecule …
The orientation of water molecules is the key factor for the fast transport of water in small nanotubes. It has been accepted that the bidirectional water burst in short nanotubes can be transformed into unidirectional transport when the…
A key objective in DNA-based material science is understanding and precisely controlling the mechanical properties of DNA hydrogels. We perform microrheology measurements using diffusing-wave spectroscopy (DWS) to investigate the…
We predict a novel temperature-driven phase transition of DNA below the melting transition. The additional, intermediate phase exists for repetitive sequences, when the two strands have different lengths. In this phase, the excess bases of…
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…
Water is a ubiquitous liquid with unique physico-chemical properties, whose nature has shaped our planet and life as we know it. Water in restricted geometries has different properties than in bulk. Confinement can prevent low-temperature…
DNA deformations play crucial roles in many biological processes and material applications. During DNA deformation, DNA structural parameters often exhibit non-trivial and counterintuitive couplings, such as the twist-stretch and…
Recent experiments on unzipping of RNA helix-loop structures by force have shown that about 40-base molecules can undergo kinetic transitions between two well-defined `open' and `closed' states, on a timescale = 1 sec [Liphardt et al.,…
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…
The denaturation of the double helix is a template for fundamental biological functions such as replication and transcription involving the formation of local fluctuational openings. The denaturation transition is studied for heterogeneous…
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…
Motivated by recent experiments on biomimetic membranes exposed to several aqueous phases, we theoretically study the morphology of a membrane in contact with a liquid droplet formed via aqueous phase separation. We concentrate on membranes…
Understanding how soft matter systems, including biological ones, can develop collective electromagnetic phenomena under external fields at ambient conditions remains a central challenge, as thermal fluctuations are generally expected to…
The translocation of a macromolecule through a nanometer-sized pore is an interesting process with important applications in the development of biosensors for single--molecule analysis and in drug delivery and gene therapy. We have carried…
The supercooled state of bulk water is largely hidden by unavoidable crystallization, which creates an experimentally inaccessible temperature regime - a 'no man's land'. We address this and circumvent the crystallization problem by…
The liquid-liquid phase separation of biomolecules is an important process for intracellular organization. Biomolecular sequence combinatorics leads to a large variety of proteins and nucleic acids which can interact to form a diversity of…
The formation of a spanning hydrogen-bonded network of hydration water is found to occur via a 2D percolation transition in various systems: smooth hydrophilic surfaces, the surface of a single protein molecule, protein powder and diluted…
The dependence of DNA assemblies conductance on relative humidity is investigated theoretically. Following earlier suggestions, we consider the ionic conductivity through the layers of water adsorbed by DNA molecules. The increase in…
Water molecules play an important role in providing unique environments for biological reactions on cell membranes. It is widely believed that water molecules form bridges that connect lipid molecules and stabilize cell membranes. Using…
This paper aims at a comprehensive understanding on the novel elastic property of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) discovered very recently through single-molecule manipulation techniques. A general elastic model for double-stranded biopolymers…
Although liquid water has been studied for many decades by (X-ray and neutron) diffraction measurements, new experimental results keep appearing, virtually every year. The reason for this is that neither X-ray, nor neutron diffraction data…