Related papers: Size, shape, and flexibility of RNA structures
Measurements of chain conformation in proteins/polyelectrolytes complexes (lysozyme and PSSNa) show that the crossover observed between an open structure -a chain network crosslinked by the proteins, and a globular one - dense globules of ~…
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…
RNA co-transcriptional folding has long been suspected to play an active role in helping proper native folding of ribozymes and structured regulatory motifs in mRNA untranslated regions. Yet, the underlying mechanisms and coding…
The behavior of long DNA molecules in a cell-sized confined space was investigated. We prepared water-in-oil droplets covered by phospholipids, which mimic the inner space of a cell, following the encapsulation of DNA molecules with…
Due to the hierarchical organization of RNA structures and their pivotal roles in fulfilling RNA functions, the formation of RNA secondary structure critically influences many biological processes and has thus been a crucial research topic.…
Proteins work only if folded in their native state, but changes in temperature T and pressure P induce their unfolding. Therefore for each protein there is a stability region (SR) in the T-P thermodynamic plane outside which the biomolecule…
HIV-1, an enveloped RNA virus, produces viral particles that are known to be much more heterogeneous in size than is typical of non-enveloped viruses. We present here a novel strategy to study HIV-1 Viral Like Particles (VLP) assembly by…
The computer-aided folding of biomolecules, particularly RNAs, is one of the most difficult challenges in computational structural biology. RNA tetraloops are fundamental RNA motifs playing key roles in RNA folding and RNA-RNA and…
In post-transcriptional regulation, an mRNA molecule is bound by many proteins and/or miRNAs to modulate its function. To enable combinatorial gene regulation, these binding partners of an RNA must communicate with each other, exhibiting…
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…
Wrinkling, creasing and folding are frequent phenomena encountered in biological and man-made bilayers made by thin films bonded to thicker and softer substrates often containing fibers. Paradigmatic examples of the latter are the skin, the…
For biologically relevant macromolecules such as intrinsically disordered proteins, internal degrees of freedom that allow for shape changes have a large influence on both the motion and function of the compound. A detailed understanding of…
We systematically explore the self-assembly of semi-flexible polymers in deformable spherical confinement across a wide regime of chain stiffness, contour lengths and packing fractions by means of coarse-grained molecular dynamics…
Motivation: RNA design aims to find RNA sequences that fold into a given target secondary structure, a problem also known as RNA inverse folding. However, not all target structures are designable. Recent advances in RNA designability have…
The statistical mechanics of heteropolymer structure formation is studied in the context of RNA secondary structures. A designed RNA sequence biased energetically towards a particular native structure (a hairpin) is used to study the…
Evidence is presented suggesting, for the first time, that the protein foldability metric sigma=(T_theta - T_f)/T_theta, where T_theta and T_f are, respectively, the collapse and folding transition temperatures, could be used also to…
The primary structure of a ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecule can be represented as a sequence of nucleotides (bases) over the alphabet {A, C, G, U}. The secondary or tertiary structure of an RNA is a set of base pairs which form bonds between…
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…
mRNA technology has revolutionized vaccine development, protein replacement therapies, and cancer immunotherapies, offering rapid production and precise control over sequence and efficacy. However, the inherent instability of mRNA poses…
RNAs self-interact through hydrogen-bond base-pairing between nucleotides and fold into specific, stable structures that substantially govern their biochemical behaviour. Experimental characterization of these structures remains difficult,…