title: Facilitated diffusion of proteins on chromatin.
abstract: We present a theoretical model of facilitated diffusion of proteins in the cell nucleus. This model, which takes into account the successive binding and unbinding events of proteins to DNA, relies on a fractal description of the chromatin which has been recently evidenced experimentally. Facilitated diffusion is shown quantitatively to be favorable for a fast localization of a target locus by a transcription factor and even to enable the minimization of the search time by tuning the affinity of the transcription factor with DNA. This study shows the robustness of the facilitated diffusion mechanism, invoked so far only for linear conformations of DNA.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée CNRS-UPMC, 4 Place Jussieu, 75255 Paris Cedex, France.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bénichou
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chevalier
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Voituriez
mesh_terms: D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D002843:Chromatin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D004058:Diffusion; D008954:Models, Biological; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D011487:Protein Conformation
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D009687:Nuclear Proteins