EVENT DETAILS AND ABSTRACT

Title: Biophysics of the DNA molecule
Speaker: Maxim Frank-Kamenetskii
Speaker Info: Boston University
Brief Description:
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Abstract:

Biophysical studies of DNA and their relevance to DNA functioning are overviewed. Many properties of the DNA molecule can be quantitatively understood on the basis of simplified theoretical models: the elastic rod model, the helix-coil model and the polyelecrtolyte model. The elastic rode model has proved to be especially fruitful in treating the DNA behavior in single-molecule experiments and in studying DNA topological properties. DNA functioning critically depends on the ability of the double helix for looping, which makes it possible for proteins bound to different sites on DNA to interact with each other. Such looping is greatly facilitated by an artificial DNA analog, PNA, which allows directional modulation of the activity of proteins working on DNA.