Designing nucleosomal force sensors

Title

Designing nucleosomal force sensors

 Author

Tompitak, M. (Universiteit Leiden)
de Bruin, L.M. (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
Eslami Mossallam, B. (TU Delft BN/Martin Depken Lab; Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)
Schiessel, H (Universiteit Leiden)

Date

2017-05-08

 Abstract

About three quarters of our DNA is wrapped into nucleosomes: DNA spools with a protein core. It is well known that the affinity of a given DNA stretch to be incorporated into a nucleosome depends on the geometry and elasticity of the basepair sequence involved, causing the positioning of nucleosomes. Here we show that DNA elasticity can have a much deeper effect on nucleosomes than just their positioning: it affects their "identities". Employing a recently developed computational algorithm, the mutation Monte Carlo method, we design nucleosomes with surprising physical characteristics. Unlike any other nucleosomes studied so far, these nucleosomes are short-lived when put under mechanical tension whereas other physical properties are largely unaffected. This suggests that the nucleosome, the most abundant DNA-protein complex in our cells, might more properly be considered a class of complexes with a wide array of physical properties, and raises the possibility that evolution has shaped various nucleosome species according to their genomic context.


 To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:db6da521-b787-4e50-913e-ff550000f2dd

 DOI

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.95.052402

 ISSN

2470-0045

 Source

Physical Review E, 95 (5)

 Part of collection

Institutional Repository

 Document type

journal article

 Rights

© 2017 M. Tompitak, L.M. de Bruin, B. Eslami Mossallam, H Schiessel
Files
PDF PhysRevE.95.052402.pdf 615.97 KB
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