SEMINAR @ SISSA, Sumners, fri 24 mar, h. 11.00 a.m. room C

[ICTP info point]

From: corzani at sissa.it

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JOINT SEMINAR:
APPLIED MATHS AND
STATISTICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PHYSICS
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Prof. De Witt Sumners
(Department of Mathematics
Florida State University)
 

Title:
"DNA Topology"

 
Fri.   24  Mar.  2006  @ 11.00 a.m. room C
 

SISSA - Basement floor - room C

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Abstract: Cellular DNA is a long, thread-like molecule with remarkably
complex topology. Enzymes which manipulate the geometry and topology
of cellular DNA perform many important cellular processes (including
segregation of daughter chromosomes, gene regulation, DNA repair, and
generation of antibody diversity). Some enzymes pass DNA through
itself via enzyme-bridged transient breaks in the DNA; other enzymes
break the DNA apart and reconnect it to different ends. In the
topological approach to enzymology, circular DNA is incubated with an
enzyme, producing an enzyme signature in the form of DNA knots and
links. By observing the changes in DNA geometry (supercoiling) and
topology (knotting and linking) due to enzyme action, the enzyme
binding and mechanism can often be characterized. This expository
lecture will discuss topological models for DNA strand passage and
exchange, and using the spectrum of DNA knots to infer bacteriophage
DNA packing in viral capsids.
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