Simulations of Action of DNA Topoisomerases to Investigate Boundaries and Shapes of Spaces of Knots

Guardat en:
Dades bibliogràfiques
Publicat a:Biophysical Journal vol. 87, no. 5 (Nov 2004), p. 2968-2975
Autor principal: Flammini, Alessandro
Altres autors: Maritan, Amos, Stasiak, Andrzej
Publicat:
Biophysical Society
Matèries:
Accés en línia:Citation/Abstract
Full Text + Graphics
Full Text - PDF
Etiquetes: Afegir etiqueta
Sense etiquetes, Sigues el primer a etiquetar aquest registre!
Descripció
Resum:The configuration space available to randomly cyclized polymers is divided into subspaces accessible to individual knot types. A phantom chain utilized in numerical simulations of polymers can explore all subspaces, whereas a real closed chain forming a figure-of-eight knot, for example, is confined to a subspace corresponding to this knot type only. One can conceptually compare the assembly of configuration spaces of various knot types to a complex foam where individual cells delimit the configuration space available to a given knot type. Neighboring cells in the foam harbor knots that can be converted into each other by just one intersegmental passage. Such a segment-segment passage occurring at the level of knotted configurations corresponds to a passage through the interface between neighboring cells in the foamy knot space. Using a DNA topoisomerase-inspired simulation approach we characterize here the effective interface area between neighboring knot spaces as well as the surface-to-volume ratio of individual knot spaces. These results provide a reference system required for better understanding mechanisms of action of various DNA topoisomerases. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]   The configuration space available to randomly cyclized polymers is divided into subspaces accessible to individual knot types. A phantom chain utilized in numerical simulations of polymers can explore all subspaces, whereas a real closed chain forming a figure-of-eight knot, for example, is confined to a subspace corresponding to this knot type only. One can conceptually compare the assembly of configuration spaces of various knot types to a complex foam where individual cells delimit the configuration space available to a given knot type. Neighboring cells in the foam harbor knots that can be converted into each other by just one intersegmental passage. Such a segment-segment passage occurring at the level of knotted configurations corresponds to a passage through the interface between neighboring cells in the foamy knot space. Using a DNA topoisomerase-inspired simulation approach we characterize here the effective interface area between neighboring knot spaces as well as the surface-to-volume ratio of individual knot spaces. These results provide a reference system required for better understanding mechanisms of action of various DNA topoisomerases.
ISSN:0006-3495
1542-0086
Font:Science Database