dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaDynamics of DNA Ejection From Bacteriophage
| Authors | Mandar M. Inamdar, William M. Gelbart, Rob Phillips |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | q-bio/0507022 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0507022 |
| DOI | 10.1529/biophysj.105.070532 |
Abstract
The ejection of DNA from a bacterial virus (``phage'') into its host cell is a biologically important example of the translocation of a macromolecular chain along its length through a membrane. The simplest mechanism for this motion is diffusion, but in the case of phage ejection a significant driving force derives from the high degree of stress to which the DNA is subjected in the viral capsid. The translocation is further sped up by the ratcheting and entropic forces associated with proteins that bind to the viral DNA in the host cell cytoplasm. We formulate a generalized diffusion equation that includes these various pushing and pulling effects and make estimates of the corresponding speed-ups in the overall translocation process. Stress in the capsid is the dominant factor throughout early ejection, with the pull due to binding particles taking over at later stages. Confinement effects are also investigated, in the case where the phage injects its DNA into a volume comparable to the capsid size. Our results suggest a series of in vitro experiments involving the ejection of DNA into vesicles filled with varying amounts of binding proteins from phage whose state of stress is controlled by ambient salt conditions or by tuning genome length.
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"abstract": "The ejection of DNA from a bacterial virus (``phage\u0027\u0027) into its host cell is\na biologically important example of the translocation of a macromolecular chain\nalong its length through a membrane. The simplest mechanism for this motion is\ndiffusion, but in the case of phage ejection a significant driving force\nderives from the high degree of stress to which the DNA is subjected in the\nviral capsid. The translocation is further sped up by the ratcheting and\nentropic forces associated with proteins that bind to the viral DNA in the host\ncell cytoplasm. We formulate a generalized diffusion equation that includes\nthese various pushing and pulling effects and make estimates of the\ncorresponding speed-ups in the overall translocation process. Stress in the\ncapsid is the dominant factor throughout early ejection, with the pull due to\nbinding particles taking over at later stages. Confinement effects are also\ninvestigated, in the case where the phage injects its DNA into a volume\ncomparable to the capsid size. Our results suggest a series of in vitro\nexperiments involving the ejection of DNA into vesicles filled with varying\namounts of binding proteins from phage whose state of stress is controlled by\nambient salt conditions or by tuning genome length.",
"arxiv_id": "q-bio/0507022",
"authors": [
"Mandar M. Inamdar",
"William M. Gelbart",
"Rob Phillips"
],
"categories": [
"q-bio.BM"
],
"doi": "10.1529/biophysj.105.070532",
"title": "Dynamics of DNA Ejection From Bacteriophage",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0507022"
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