CBM/ELETTRA seminar 25th May - h 15.00 - BASOVIZZA

[Maria Teresa]

Dear Sirs,

you are kindly invited at CBM/ELETTRA seminar:



DNA interaction, recognition and aggregation. Love at first sight



prof. Alexei A. Kornyshev

Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, UK

	
Moderator: prof. Giacinto Scoles, ELETTRA/CBM



Friday, 25th May 2007, 3 pm

Conference Hall T Building

AREA Science Park

BASOVIZZA

Trieste



How can meters of genetic material be packed in mammalian sperm and  
phage heads?

Why do some ions condense DNA, while others do not? Why does DNA  
change its structure in

dense aggregates? These and other questions, including a mechanism  
for snap-shot genegene

recognition in recombination of homologous genes suggested by  
Kornyshev and Leikin

are addressed within an ongoing research program of a  
‘transatlantic’ team at the Departments

of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences of Imperial College London,  
and the Physical

Biochemistry Group of the Institute of Child Health and Human  
Development of the National

Institute of Health (Bethesda, MD, USA).

This project is based on Kornyshev-Leikin theory of interaction of  
helical

macromolecules in solutions. In line with a wealth of experimental  
data (such as the observed

poly- and meso-morphism of DNA assemblies, and the measured decay  
range of repulsive

forces between various helical macromolecules) this theory was  
recently extended to the

statistical mechanics of DNA columnar and cholesteric phases, and DNA  
mechanics - mapped

on forefront models of nonlinear physics (A.Cherstvy, A.Kornyshev,  
D.J.Lee, S.Leikin

A.Wynveen).

One of the recent results was the experimental proof of azimuthal  
correlations between

DNA in hydrated aggregates (A.A.Kornyshev, D.J.Lee, S.Leikin,  
A.Wynveen, S.Zimmerman),

predicted by the theory. The latest experiments of Imperial-NIH team  
(G. Baldwin, N.Brooks,

A.Goldar, S.Leikin, R.Robson, J.Seddon) has recently approved  
existence of the physical

mechanism of homology recognition in protein free environment,  
predicted by KL in 2001. The

effect of homology recognition is what presumably warrants against  
errors in homologous

recombination of genes – the process responsible for evolution and  
genetic diversity, as well

DNA repair. Thus understanding the recognition mechanism may result  
in the future in

understanding how to avoid such errors that themselves are  
responsible for a number of

genetically determined diseases, such as cancer and Atzheimer’s on  
one hand, or aging on the

other hand.

This talk will introduce the audience to the principles of the  
theory, present some of its

main results, and review the latest experimental findings. An  
interested listener is referred to a

detailed article which will be published in the June issue of Reviews  
of Modern Physics:

A.A.Kornyshev, D.J.Lee, S.Leikin, and A.Wynveen: Structure and  
interactions of biological

helices, and the original publications, listed below.





Theory of interaction between helical molecules
A.A.Kornyshev and S.Leikin, J.Chem.Phys. 1997,107, 3656.

Symmetry laws for interaction between helical macromolecules.

A.A.Kornyshev and S.Leikin, Biophys.J., 1998, 75, 2513.

Helical symmetry and electrostatic interaction of macromolecules in  
dense aggregates.

An impetus for DNA poly- and meso-morphism.

A.A.Kornyshev and S.Leikin, Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.USA. 1998, 95, 13579.

Electrostatic zipper motif for DNA aggregation.

A.A.Kornyshev and S.Leikin, Phys.Rev.Lett., 1999, 82, 4138.

A twist in chiral interaction between biological helices.

A.A.Kornyshev and S.Leikin, Phys.Rev.Lett. 2000, 84, 2537.

Electrostatic interaction between long, rigid helical macromolecules  
at all interaxial angles

A.A.Kornyshev and S.Leikin, Phys.Rev.E, 2000, 62, 2576.

Sequence recognition in pairing of DNA duplexes.

A.A.Kornyshev and S.Leikin, Phys.Rev.Lett. 2001, 86, 3666. DNA need  
not unzip.-

http://focus.aps.org/v7/st19.html

Chiral electrostatic interactions and cholesteric liquid crystals of  
DNA.

A.A.Kornyshev, S.Leikin, and S.Malinin, European Phys.J. E (Soft  
Matter) 2002, 7, 83.

Phase behavior of columnar DNA assemblies.

H.M.Harreis, A.A.Kornyshev, C.N.Likos, H.Loewen, and G.Sutmann,  
Phys.Rev.Lett. 2002, 89, art.#18303.

Temperature-dependent DNA condensation triggered by rearrangement of  
adsorbed cations.

A.G. Cherstvy, A.A.Kornyshev, S.Leikin, J.Phys.Chem.2002,106, 13362.

Torsional Deformation of Double Helix in Interaction and aggregation  
of DNA.

A.G.Cherstvy, A.A.Kornyshev, and S.Leikin, J.Phys.Chem.B, 2004, 108,  
6508.

Nonlinear effects in torsional adjustment of interacting DNA.

A.Kornyshev and A.Wynveen,. Phys.Rev.E, 2004, 69, #041905, 1-14.

DNA-DNA interaction beyond the ground state.

D.J.Lee, A.Wynveen, and A.A.Kornyshev, Phys. Rev. E, 2004, 70,  
#051913, 1-12

Statistical mechanics of DNA assemblies.

A.Wynveen, D.J.Lee, and A.A.Kornyshev, Eur.Phys.J. E, 2005, 16, 303.

Torsional fluctuations in columnar DNA assemblies.

D.J.Lee and A.Wynveen, J.Phys: Condensed Matter, 18, 786 (2006).

DNA melting in aggregates: impeded or facilitated?

A.G.Cherstvy and A.A.Kornyshev, J.Phys.Chem.B, 2004, 108, 6508.

Direct observation of azimuthal correlations between DNA in hydrated  
aggregates

A.A.Kornyshev, D.J.Lee, S.Leikin, A.Wynveen, S.Zimmerman,  
Phys.Rev.Lett. 2005, 95,#148102.




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