2003/07/31 by Somendra M. Bhattacharjee
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #DNA and Nucleic Acid Chemistry #Diffusion and Search Dynamics #RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech #physics.bio-ph #q-bio
paper · pdf · doi:10.1209/epl/i2003-10107-2
published as Europhysics Letts. 65, 574 (2004) · 5 pages, 5 eps figures; replaced by the published version
openalex publication_date 2004/02/01 · arxiv created 2004/03/18 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
We develop a propagating-front analysis, in terms of a local probability of zipping, for the helicase activity of opening up a double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). In a fixed-distance ensemble (conjugate to the fixed-force ensemble), the front separates the zipped and unzipped phases of a dsDNA and a drive acts locally around the front. Bounds from variational analysis and numerical estimates for the speed of a helicase are obtained. Different types of helicase behaviours can be distinguished by the nature of the drive.