We have investigated by electron microscopy the mechanism of DNA compaction and have found that the double helix has the intrinsic potential to direct its own packaging into two distinctly different and mutally exclusive modes. The mode of DNA packaging is determined by the electrostatic charge density and water activity of the immediate microenvironment of the helix. The two basic structures f...

Antimicrobial peptides are promising alternative to traditional antibiotics and antitumor drugs for the battle against new antibiotic resistant bacteria strains and cancer maladies. The study of their structural and dynamics properties at physiological conditions can help to understand their stability, delivery mechanisms, and activity in the human body. In this article, we have used molecular ...

The M2 protein is a multifunctional protein, which plays several roles in the replication cycle of the influenza A virus. Here we focus on its ability to promote budding of the mature virus from the cell surface. Using high-resolution small-angle X-ray scattering we show that M2 can restructure lipid membranes into bicontinuous cubic phases which are rich in negative Gaussian curvature (NGC). T...

The MML classification program, Snob, deals with mixture modelling (or clustering) of circular data. It has recently been extended to do Markov modelling of the serial correlation between clusters such as modelling the fact that a Helix cluster favours being followed by another Helix cluster. Such a model is better known as a Hidden Markov Model. The search for the most appropriate secondary st...

The HIV-1 frameshift site (FS) plays a critical role in viral replication. During translation, the HIV-1 FS transitions from a 3-helix to a 2-helix junction RNA secondary structure. The 2-helix junction structure contains a GGA bulge, and purine-rich bulges are common motifs in RNA secondary structure. Here, we investigate the dynamics of the HIV-1 FS 2-helix junction RNA. Interhelical motions ...

Earlier x-ray studies on dissolved linear DNA molecules were interpreted on the assumption that the molecules scattered as rigid rods. Improvement in equipment and advances in theory of the scattering from randomly oriented helices prompted us into a reinvestigation of this problem. Careful measurements were made on the scattering from both linear calf thymus DNA and from circular plasmid COP60...

Helical bacterial macroorganisms have been produced by the selection of appropriate Bacillus subtilis mutants and the establishment of specific growth conditions. Threadlike fibers ranging in length to approximately 1 cm are produced in fluid culture by the parallel association of many division-suppressed filaments in helical arrangement. A more open ball-like structure of complicated woven arc...

A liquid droplet is placed on a rotating helical fiber. We find that the droplet may slide down, attach or climb up the fiber. We inspect experimentally the domain of existence of these three behaviors as a function of the geometrical characteristics of the fiber, its angle relatively to the horizontal, the wetting properties of the fluid and the rotating speed of the helix. A theoretical model...

Many viruses encode scaffolding and coat proteins that co-assemble to form procapsids, which are transient precursor structures leading to progeny virions. In bacteriophage P22, the association of scaffolding and coat proteins is mediated mainly by ionic interactions. The coat protein-binding domain of scaffolding protein is a helix turn helix structure near the C terminus with a high number of...

The purpose of this study was to investigate myocardial fiber pathway distribution in order to provide supplemental information on myocardial fiber architecture and cardiac mechanics. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with medium diffusion resolution (15 directions) was performed on normal canine heart samples (N=6) fixed in formalin. With the use of diffusion tensor fiber tracking, left ventricle...