Related papers: Torsional fluctuations in columnar DNA assemblies
The pair interaction between two stiff parallel linear DNA molecules depends not only on the distance between their axes but on their azimuthal orientation. The positional and orientational order in columnar B-DNA assemblies in solution is…
The twisting deformation of mechanically stretched DNA molecules is studied by a coarse grained Hamiltonian model incorporating the fundamental interactions that stabilize the double helix and accounting for the radial and angular base pair…
Many physical systems can be mapped onto solved or "solvable" models of magnetism. In this work, we have mapped the statistical mechanics of columnar phases of ideally helical rigid DNA -- subject to the earlier found unusual, frustrated…
Helical molecules change their twist number under the effect of a mechanical load. We study the twist-stretch relation for a set of short DNA molecules modeled by a mesoscopic Hamiltonian. Finite temperature path integral techniques are…
The base pair fluctuations and helix untwisting are examined for a circular molecule. A realistic mesoscopic model including twisting degrees of freedom and bending of the molecular axis is proposed. The computational method, based on path…
We investigate the orientational order of transverse polarization vectors of long, stiff polymer molecules and their coupling to bond orientational and positional order in high density mesophases. Homogeneous ordering of transverse…
By equilibrating condensed DNA arrays against reservoirs of known osmotic stress and examining them with several structural probes, it has been possible to achieve a detailed thermodynamic and structural characterization of the change…
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 approach for the description of the DNA conformational transformations on the mesoscopic scales in the frame of the double helix is presented. Due to consideration of the joint motions of DNA structural elements along the conformational…
The competition between toroidal and rod-like conformations as possible ground states for DNA condensation is studied as a function of the stiffness, the length of the DNA and the form of the long-range interactions between neighboring…
Charge transport through a short DNA oligomer (Dickerson dodecamer) in presence of structural fluctuations is investigated using a hybrid computational methodology based on a combination of quantum mechanical electronic structure…
Using a nonlinear mean-field solar dynamo model, we study relationships between the amplitude of the `extended' mode of migrating zonal flows (`torsional oscillations') and magnetic cycles, and investigate whether properties the torsional…
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 present a self-contained theory for the mechanical response of DNA in single molecule experiments. Our model is based on a 1D continuum description of the DNA molecule and accounts both for its elasticity and for DNA-DNA electrostatic…
The structure of DNA in the nucleosome core particle is studied using an elastic model that incorporates anisotropy in the bending energetics and twist-bend coupling. Using the experimentally determined structure of nucleosomal DNA [T.J.…
DNA condensation by multivalent cations plays a crucial role in genome packaging in viruses and sperm heads, and has been extensively studied using single-molecule experimental methods. In those experiments, the values of the critical…
We examine the elastic model of short circular DNA. We obtain analytic expressions for configurations, elastic energy, twist and linking number of our solutions. We find the onset of the plectonemic transition. We suggest ways to use our…
Nucleosomes organize the folding of DNA into chromatin and significantly influence transcription, replication, regulation and repair. All atom molecular dynamics simulations of a nucleosome and of its 146 basepairs of DNA free in solution…
The flexibility of short DNA chains is investigated via computation of the average correlation function between dimers which defines the persistence length. Path integration techniques have been applied to confine the phase space available…
Nucleic acids are highly deformable helical molecules constantly stretched, twisted and bent in their biological functioning. Single molecule experiments have shown that double stranded (ds)-RNA and standard ds-DNA have opposite…