Related papers: Wringing out DNA
The amount and type of self-entanglement of DNA filaments is significantly affected by spatial confinement, which is ubiquitous in biological systems. Motivated by recent advancements in single DNA molecule experiments based on nanofluidic…
Structural changes in giant DNA induced by the addition of the flexible polymer PEG were examined by the method of single-DNA observation. In dilute DNA conditions, individual DNA assumes a compact state via a discrete coil-globule…
We here present a variable-range hopping model to describe the chirality-induced spin selectivity along the DNA double helix. In this model, DNA is considered as a one-dimensional disordered system, where electrons are transported by chiral…
A unified model is constructed to study the recently observed DNA entropic elasticity, cooperative extensibility, and supercoiling property. With the introduction of a new structural parameter (the folding angle $\phi$), bending…
A class of nucleosome remodeling motors translocate nucleosomes, to which they are attached, toward the middle of DNA chain in the presence of ATP during in vitro experiments. Such a biological activity is likely based on a physical…
It is well known that transcription can induce torsional stress in DNA, affecting the activity of nearby genes or even inducing structural transitions in the DNA duplex. It has long been assumed that the generation of significant torsional…
The macroscopic curvature of double helical DNA induced by regularly repeated adenine tracts is well-known but still puzzling. Its physical origin remains controversial even though it is perhaps the best-documented sequence modulation of…
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…
Effects of sequence disorder on looping and cyclization of the double-stranded DNA are studied theoretically. Both random intrinsic curvature and inhomogeneous bending rigidity are found to result in a remarkably wide distribution of…
The intrinsic double helix conformation of the DNA strands is known to be the key ingredient of control of the electric current through the DNA by the perpendicular (gate) electric field. We show theoretically that Bloch oscillations in the…
Experimental variables of optical tweezers instrumentation that affect RNA folding/unfolding kinetics were investigated. A model RNA hairpin, P5ab, was attached to two micron-sized beads through hybrid RNA/DNA handles; one bead was trapped…
DNA is subject to large deformations in a wide range of biological processes. Two key examples illustrate how such deformations influence the readout of the genetic information: the sequestering of eukaryotic genes by nucleosomes, and DNA…
Motivated by recent experiments, we develop a model for DNA toroids under external tension. We find that tori are the equilibrium states for our model up to a critical tension, above which they become only metstable. Above this tension, we…
The impact of damping effect and external forces to the DNA breathing is investigated within the Peyrard-Bishop model. In in the continuum limit, the dynamics of the breathing of DNA is described by the forced-damped nonlinear Schrodinger…
Using an exact solution for the pair interaction potential, we show that long, rigid, chiral molecules with helical surface charge patterns have a preferential interaxial angle ~((RH)^1/2)/L, where L is the length of the molecules, R is the…
We use a recently developed coarse-grained model to simulate the overstretching of duplex DNA. Overstretching at 23C occurs at 74 pN in the model, about 6-7 pN higher than the experimental value at equivalent salt conditions. Furthermore,…
Single-molecule experiments in which force is applied to DNA or RNA molecules have enabled important discoveries of nucleic acid properties and nucleic acid-enzyme interactions. These experiments rely on a model of the polymer…
The force-extension relation for a semi-flexible polymer such as DNA confined in a nanoslit is investigated and it is found that both the effective persistence length and the form of the force-extension relation change as the chain goes…
Unusually high bending flexibility has been recently reported for DNA on short length scales. We use atomic force microscopy (AFM) in solution to obtain a direct estimate of DNA bending statistics for scales down to one helical turn. It…
DNA supercoiling, the under or overwinding of DNA, is a key physical mechanism both participating to compaction of bacterial genomes and making genomic sequences adopt various structural forms. DNA supercoiling may lead to the formation of…