• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.1319-1322
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• 1999

Leucine zipper dynamically tunes the degree of bifurcation of the DNA binding segments in the basic region of the Fos-Jun bZIP complex. Molecular dynamics simulation indicated that site-specific mutagenesis of conserved leucine residues inside the leucine zipper domain caused the change of dynamic behavior of the basic region, and efficient DNA binding occurs only within a certain range of distance between the two DNA binding segments in the basic region. Distribution of α-helices in the hinge region is also suggested to influence the bifurcation of the DNA binding segments.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.219-237
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• 2011

Recent advances in scientific computing enable the full atomistic simulation of DNA molecules. However, there exists length and time scale limitations in molecular dynamics (MD) simulation for large DNA molecules. In this work, a two-level homogenization of DNA molecules is proposed. A wavelet projection method is first introduced to form a coarse-grained DNA molecule represented with superatoms. The coarsened MD model offers a simplified molecular structure for the continuum description of DNA molecules. The coarsened DNA molecular structure is then homogenized into a three-dimensional beam with embedded molecular properties. The methods to determine the elasticity constants in the continuum model are also presented. The proposed continuum model is adopted for the study of mechanical behavior of DNA loop.

• BMB Reports
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2001

Structural and physical properties of type wild type and various selected mutants of the vnd/NK-2 homeodomain, the protein product of the homeobox, and the implication in genetic disease are reviewed. The structure, dynamics and thermodynamics have been Investigated by NMR and by calorimetry. The interactions responsible for the nucleotide sequence-specific binding of the homeodomain to its consensus DNA binding site have been identified. There is a strong correlation between significant structural alterations within the homeodomain or its DNA complex and the appearance of genetic disease. Mutations in positions known to be important in genetic disease have been examined carefully For example, mutation of position 52 of vnd/NK-2 results in a significant structural modification and mutation of position 54 alters the DNA binding specificity and amity The $^{15}N$ relaxation behavior and heteronuclear Overhauser effect data was used to characterize and describe the protein backbone dynamics. These studies were carried out on the wild type and the double mutant proteins both in the free and in the DNA bound states. Finally, the thermodynamic properties associated with DNA binding are described for the vnd/NK-2 homeodomain. These thermodynamic measurements reinforce the hypothesis that water structure around a protein and around DNA significantly contribute to the protein-DNA binding behavior. The results, taken together, demonstrate that structure and dynamic studies of proteins combined with thermodynamic measurements provide a significantly more complete picture of the solution behavior than the individual studies.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.62-66
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• 2010

Benzopyrene is known to be one of the most powerful carcinogens which can build intercalated motif between base pairs in damaged DNA. The dimension of benzopyrene itself is much bigger than any of the DNA bases and thus the question whether the lesion of some base pair by insertion of benzopyrene can happen with or without a dramatic distortion of the helical structure is a highly interesting theme. In this work we used a molecular mechanics simulation using AMBER program package to go into the conformational characteristics. The condition of the insertion process of the benzopyrene motif from minor groove of the starting structure between the base pairs in the internal area of double helix was investigated using the molecular dynamics simulation at elevated temperature.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.67-74
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• 2010

Some of the benzopyrene (BP)-DNA adduct are known to build intercalated motif between flanking base pairs in damaged DNA depending on the structural condition. The size of benzopyrene itself is definitely not comparable with any of the DNA bases and thus the question whether the lesion of some base pair by insertion of benzopyrene can happen with or without a dramatic distortion of the helical structure is a highly interesting theme. In this work we used a molecular dynamics simulation based on the theory of molecular mechanics. The specific consequences about the structural properties of the intercalated structures and benzopyrene motif in minor groove of the double helix are deduced after 5 ns simulation time.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.143-150
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• 2017

Homologous recombination (HR) is necessary for maintenance of genomic integrity and prevention of various mutations in tumor suppressor genes and proto-oncogenes. Rad51 and Rad54 are key HR factors that cope with replication stress and DNA breaks in eukaryotes. Rad51 binds to single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) to form the presynaptic filament that promotes a homology search and DNA strand exchange, and Rad54 stimulates the strand-pairing function of Rad51. Here, we studied the molecular dynamics of Rad51 and Rad54 during the cell cycle of HeLa cells. These cells constitutively express Rad51 and Rad54 throughout the entire cell cycle, and the formation of foci immediately increased in response to various types of DNA damage and replication stress, except for caffeine, which suppressed the Rad51-dependent HR pathway. Depletion of Rad51 caused severe defects in response to postreplicative stress. Accordingly, HeLa cells were arrested at the G2-M transition although a small amount of Rad51 was steadily maintained in HeLa cells. Our results suggest that cell cycle progression and proliferation of HeLa cells can be tightly controlled by the abundance of HR proteins, which are essential for the rapid response to postreplicative stress and DNA damage stress.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.607-612
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• 2007

Relationship between charge transfer mechanism and quantum coherence has been investigated using a realtime quantum dynamics approach. In the on-the-fly filtered propagator functional path integral simulation, by separating paths that belong to different mechanisms and by integrating contributions of correspondingly sorted paths, it was possible to accurately obtain quantitative contribution of different transport mechanisms. For a 5'-GAGGG-3' DNA sequence, we analyze charge transfer processes quantitatively such that the governing mechanism alters from coherent to incoherent charge transfer with respect to the friction strength arising from dissipative environments. Although the short DNA sequence requires substantially strong dissipation for completely incoherent hopping transfer mechanism, even a weak system-environment interaction markedly destroys the coherence within the quantum mechanical system and the charge transfer dynamics becomes incoherent to some degree. Based on the forward-backward path deviation analysis, the coherence variation depending on the environment is investigated numerically.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.141-146
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• 2007

We examine the wall contact of a $3\;{\mu}m$ tethered DNA chain's free end under shear with a focus on developing schemes for double-tethering in the application of making scaffolds for molecular wires. At this scale our results are found to be highly dependent on small length scale rigidity. Chain-end-wall contact frequency, mean fractional extension deficit upon contact, and standard deviation in extension upon contact are examined for scaling with dimensionless flow strength, Wi. Predictions made using a one dimensional approximation to the Smoluchowski equation for a dumbbell and three dimensional dumbbell simulations produce extension deficit, standard deviation, and frequency scaling exponents of -1/3, -1/3, and 2/3, respectively whereas more fine-grained Kratky-Porod (KP) simulations produce scaling exponents of -0.48, -0.42, and 0.76. The contact frequency scaling of 2/3 is derived from the known results regarding cyclic dynamics Analytical scaling predictions are in agreement with those previously proposed for ${\lambda}-DNA$. [Ladoux and Doyle, 2000, Doyle et al., 2000]. Our results suggest that the differences between the dumbbell and the KP model are associated with the addition of chain discretization and the correct bending potential in the latter. These scaling results will aide future exploration in double tethering of DNA to a surface.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.16.1-16.8
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• 2017

The exportation of cultured olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) in Korea has been recently decreasing due to the infections with a myxozoan parasite Kudoa septempunctata, and there is a strong demand for strict food safety management because the food poisoning associated with consumption of raw olive flounder harbouring K. septempunctata has been frequently reported in Japan. The life cycle and infection dynamics of K. septempunctata in aquatic environment are currently unknown, which hamper establishment of effective control methods. We investigated sea water and marine invertebrates collected from olive flounder farms for detecting K. septempunctata by DNA-based analysis, to elucidate infection dynamics of K. septempunctata in aquaculture farms. In addition, live marine polychaetes were collected and maintained in well plates to find any possible actinosporean state of K. septempunctata. The level of K. septempunctata DNA in rearing water fluctuated during the sampling period but the DNA was not detected in summer (June-July in farm A and August in farm B). K. septempunctata DNA was also detected in the polychaetes Naineris laevigata intestinal samples, showing decreased pattern of 40 to 0%. No actinosporean stage of K. septempunctata was observed in the polychaetes by microscopy. The absence of K. septempunctata DNA in rearing water of fish farm and the polychaetes N. laevigata intestinal samples during late spring and early summer indicate that the infection may not occur during this period. N. laevigata was suspected as the possible alternate invertebrate host of K. septempunctata, but the actinosporean stage was not found by well plate method and further studies will be necessary. This research provides important baseline information for understanding the infection dynamics of K. septempunctata in olive flounder farms and further establishment of control strategies.

• Proceedings of the Optical Society of Korea Conference
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• 2004.02a
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• pp.180-181
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• 2004