Search results for "Quantitative Biology::Subcellular Processes"
showing 10 items of 97 documents
Structure of Polymer Brushes in Cylindrical Tubes: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation
2006
Molecular Dynamics simulations of a coarse-grained bead-spring model of flexible macromolecules tethered with one end to the surface of a cylindrical pore are presented. Chain length $N$ and grafting density $\sigma$ are varied over a wide range and the crossover from ``mushroom'' to ``brush'' behavior is studied for three pore diameters. The monomer density profile and the distribution of the free chain ends are computed and compared to the corresponding model of polymer brushes at flat substrates. It is found that there exists a regime of $N$ and $\sigma$ for large enough pore diameter where the brush height in the pore exceeds the brush height on the flat substrate, while for large enoug…
Curvature and Torsion of Protein Main Chain as Local Order Parameters of Protein Unfolding
2020
International audience; Thermal protein unfolding resembles a global (two-state) phase transition. At the local scale, protein unfolding is, however, heterogeneous and probe dependent. Here, we consider local order parameters defined by the local curvature and torsion of the protein main chain. Because chemical shift (CS) measured by NMR spectroscopy is extremely sensitive to the local atomic environment, CS has served as a local probe of thermal unfolding of proteins by varying the position of the atomic isotope along the amino-acid sequence. The variation of the CS of each C(alpha) atom along the sequence as a function of the temperature defines a local heat-induced denaturation curve. We…
Dynamic force spectroscopy: analysis of reversible bond-breaking dynamics
2008
The problem of diffusive bond-dissociation in a double well potential under application of an external force is scrutinized. We compute the probability distribution of rupture forces and present a detailed discussion of the influence of finite rebinding probabilities on the dynamic force spectrum. In particular, we focus on barrier crossing upon extension, i.e. under linearly increased load, and upon relaxation starting from completely separated bonds. For large loading rates the rupture force and the rejoining force depend on the loading rate in the expected manner determined by the shape of the potential. For small loading rates the mean forces obtained from pull and relax modes approach …
Pore structure and function of synthetic nanopores with fixed charges: tip shape and rectification properties
2011
We present a complete theoretical study of the relationship between the structure (tip shape and dimensions) and function (selectivity and rectification) of asymmetric nanopores on the basis of previous experimental studies. The theoretical model uses a continuum approach based on the Nernst-Planck equations. According to our results, the nanopore transport properties, such as current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, conductance, rectification ratio, and selectivity, are dictated mainly by the shape of the pore tip (we have distinguished bullet-like, conical, trumpet-like, and hybrid shapes) and the concentration of pore surface charges. As a consequence, the nanopore performance in practical…
Effects of a macroscopic fixed charge inhomogeneity on some membrane transport properties
1991
Abstract The effects that a macroscopic fixed charge inhomogeneity exerts on some membrane transport properties have been theoretically analyzed. To this end, we introduce two particular inhomogeneous fixed charge distributions on the basis of previous experimental work, and the transport equations are assumed to be the Nernst-Planck equations. It is found that a macroscopic redistribution of a constant quantity of fixed charge groups can modify the observed transport properties, the two inhomogeneous membranes here considered exhibiting permselectivities different from those of otherwise identical homogeneous membranes. Although the main emphasis of the study is on the basic aspects of tra…
The Modelling of Cell Membrane Electrodynamics
2013
Main electrical processes in cells are defined by membranes. The membrane maintains a biochemical environment inside the cell that differs from the outside one, keeping the electrical potential negative inside the cell and organizing the selective transport across the surface. In the paper, it is attempted to explain the cell membrane electrodynamics using modelling experiments with magnetic dipoles. It is shown that the membrane has a definite symmetry or handenness. In addition, a characteristic mechanism of the excited state physics is given. The modelling experiments have also shown that a membrane with different symmetry can exist. Since the electrical processes in these cases are diff…
"Table 4" of "Search for dark matter in events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=…
2014
Observed limits on the effective theory mass scale M* as a function of the dark matter mass M(chi) at 90% confidence-level from combined mono-W-boson and mono-Z-boson signals for various operators.
An innovative mechanical converter for sea wave application
2017
This paper describes an innovative mechanical converter, usable in sea wave energy sector. This system transforms a variable bidirectional linear motion into a unidirectional rotary motion.
"Table 10" of "Search for new phenomena in events with a photon and missing transverse momentum in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS…
2015
Observed lower limits at 95% C.L. on the EFT suppression scale M* as a function of the mediator mass mV, for a Z'-like mediator with vector interactions. For a dark-matter mass m_chi of 50 or 400 GeV, results are shown for different values of the mediator total decay width Gamma.
Magnetic-field-induced anisotropic curvature elasticity of a vesicle membrane containing magnetic polyions
2000
Interaction between a charged membrane and the electrolyte solution containing magnetic polyions is considered. A self-magnetic field, which arises due to the nonhomogeneous magnetic particle distribution near a charged membrane increases the effective charge screening length for the parts of a membrane normal to a magnetic field. The anisotropy of elastic properties of a membrane depending on the screening length is calculated on the basis of the curvature expansion. It is shown that due to diminishing of the spontaneous curvature for the parts of a membrane normal to a magnetic field there are two competing mechanisms of the ferrovesicle shape transformation under the influence of a magne…