Chromatin dynamics: Nucleosomes go mobile through twist defects

Abstract

We study the spontaneous ''sliding'' of histone spools (nucleosomes) along DNA as a result of thermally activated single base pair twist defects. To this end we map the system onto a suitably extended Frenkel-Kontorova model. Combining results from several recent experiments we are able to estimate the nucleosome mobility without adjustable parameters. Our model shows also how the local mobility is intimately linked to the underlying base pair sequence.

4 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (6)

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• Dynamical transitions in correlated driven diffusion in a periodic potential
• On the driven Frenkel-Kontorova model: I. Uniform sliding states and dynamical domains of different particle densities
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• A 1-dimensional statistical mechanics model for nucleosome positioning on genomic DNA
• Ubiquitous nucleosome unwrapping in the yeast genome
• Resource Letter: Bio-molecular Nano-machines: where Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Technology meet
• Theory of Nucleosome Corkscrew Sliding in the Presence of Synthetic DNA Ligands