title: Thermodynamics of DNA loops with long-range correlated structural disorder.
abstract: We study the influence of a structural disorder on the thermodynamical properties of 2D-elastic chains submitted to mechanical/topological constraint as loops. The disorder is introduced via a spontaneous curvature whose distribution along the chain presents either no correlation or long-range correlations (LRC). The equilibrium properties of the one-loop system are derived numerically and analytically for weak disorder. LRC are shown to favor the formation of small loop, larger the LRC, smaller the loop size. We use the mean first passage time formalism to show that the typical short time loop dynamics is superdiffusive in the presence of LRC. Potential biological implications on nucleosome positioning and dynamics in eukaryotic chromatin are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institut Bernouilli, EPFL, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vaillant
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Audit
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arnéodo
mesh_terms: D002843:Chromatin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D004278:DNA, Superhelical / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004548:Elasticity; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D007501:Iron / Q000737:chemistry; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D004278:DNA, Superhelical; D009707:Nucleosomes; D004247:DNA; D007501:Iron