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arXiv 1504.02691cond-mat.softphysics.bio-phphysics.chem-phq-bio.BM
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单分子DNA凝聚中环状和棒状结构的理论与模拟

Theory and simulations of toroidal and rod-like structures in single-molecule DNA condensation

Ruggero Cortini, Bertrand R. Caré, Jean-Marc Victor, Maria Barbi

摘要:

多价阳离子的DNA缩合在病毒和精子头部的基因组包装中起着至关重要的作用,并且已经使用单分子实验方法进行了广泛的研究。在这些实验中,临界凝聚力的值已被用来估计吸引的DNA-DNA相互作用的幅度。在这里,为了描述这些实验,我们开发了一个分析模型和一个刚体朗之万动力学分析,以调查与自相互作用的聚合物的行为,在存在的牵引力施加在其末端。我们使用成对的吸引力的潜力模型的自我相互作用,从而治疗反离子隐含。分析模型可以准确地预测环形和棒状凝聚结构的平衡结构,以及临界凝聚力对DNA长度的依赖性。我们发现临界凝聚力强烈地依赖于DNA的长度,并且有限尺寸效应对于长度达10^5 μm的分子是重要的。我们的朗之万动力学模拟表明,力的延伸行为的棒状结构是非常不同的环形的,所以它们的存在在实验中应该很容易检测。在双链DNA缩合实验中,杆状结构的存在的特征没有被明确地检测到,这表明用于缩合DNA的多胺可以保护它免于在杆状结构中需要时急剧弯曲

英文摘要:

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 condensation forces have been used to estimate the amplitude of the attractive DNA-DNA interactions. Here, to describe these experiments, we developed an analytical model and a rigid body Langevin dynamics assay to investigate the behavior of a polymer with self-interactions, in the presence of a traction force applied at its extremities. We model self-interactions using a pairwise attractive potential, thereby treating the counterions implicitly. The analytical model allows to accurately predict the equilibrium structures of toroidal and rod-like condensed structures, and the dependence of the critical condensation force on the DNA length. We find that the critical condensation force depends strongly on the length of the DNA, and finite-size effects are important for molecules of length up to 10^5 μm. Our Langevin dynamics simulations show that the force-extension behavior of the rod-like structures is very different from the toroidal ones, so that their presence in experiments should be easily detectable. In double-stranded DNA condensation experiments, the signature of the presence of rod-like structures was not unambiguously detected, suggesting that the polyamines used to condense DNA may protect it from bending sharply as needed in the rod-like structures

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