A number of proteins recognize dna using a variety of structural motifs. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen pcna is an essential factor in dna replication and repair. Dna structure dna is composed of polynucleotide chains the most important feature of dna is that it is usually composed of two polynucleotide chainstwisted around each other in the form of a double helix figure 61. All cells in an organism have the same genetic content, but the genes used expressed by the cell may be regulated in different ways. T obias, the elastic rod model for dna and its application to the tertiary structure of dna minicircles in mononucleosomes, biophys. Dna stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, and its a fascinating molecule. Today, we know much about dna, its properties, and function. The ima volumes in mathematics and its applications 150. Ghada abou elella lecturer of biochemistrylecturer of biochemistry faculty of vet. Although the information they carry is onedimensional, it is essential to understand the 3d structure of nucleic acids. It contains a personal remembrance of nick cozzarelli, plus 15 papers contributed by workshop speakers. If youre behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains. Dna or deoxyribonucleic acid is a type of nucleic acid. Applications to chromosome organization and sitespecific recombination.
The understanding of the biological importance of rna in cellular. Mathematics of dna structure, function and interactions. Cellular dna is a long, threadlike molecule with remarkably complex topology. Pdf mathematics of dna structure, function and interactions. Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interactions between dna, rna and protein biosynthesis as well as learning how these interactions are regulated. The junction adopts a folded structure in the presence of divalent metal ions. Abstractdna gyrase is an essential bacterial enzyme that catalyzes the atpdependent negative supercoiling of doublestranded closedcircular dna. The main source of this knowledge was the theory of computation community, which has been my academic and social home throughout this period. This volume is dedicated to the memory of nicholas r. Dna was in the nucleus but proteins were made in the cytoplasm 2. Dna structure and function there is a certain type of chemical bonding between the paired nucleotides on each strand of dna which helps maintain the doublehelix structure of dna by attracting each strand to the other.
Rna synthesis in the nucleus was exported to the cytoplasm. Basti, the explanation is straightforward though not simple. With the discovery of the molecular structure of the dna. With the 50th aniversary of the discovery of the dna structure by james. After years of research, he decided that his work had to contain a strong philosophical justification in order to stand the test of time. This 3d structure dictates their organization, functions and interactions with proteins. Just as cells have dna, so mathematics has dna in its structure. Dna structure and function if youre seeing this message, it means were having trouble loading external resources on our website. Mathematics of nucleic acids, followed by the workshop mathematics of molecular and cellular biology, held september 1521 at the ima. These simple but important model interactions are then placed in the broader biological context with discussion of larger proteindna complexes. The book provides a simple yet comprehensive introduction to nearly all aspects of dna structure. Motifs include hth, zincfingers, leucine zipper, tata binding protein. In mechanisms of microbial genetics, we will discuss in detail the ways in which dna uses its own base sequence to direct its own synthesis, as well as the synthesis of rna and proteins, which, in turn, gives rise to products with diverse structure and function. Selected papers based on the presentations at the workshop, september 1621, 2007, minneapolis, mn, usa.
Medicine south valley universitysouth valley university 2. Nitrogenous base n attaches to 1c of sugar double or single ring four bases adenine. Mathematics of dna structure, function and interactions craig. Transcription is the synthesis of rna using dna as a template. However, better understanding of their interactions with different tissues and organs is needed to establish specific design criteria. Department of biological sciences mathematics of dna structure, function and interactions. Their main function is to maintain and transmit the genetic code. National council of teachers of mathematics nctm regional conference salt lake city, ut. Real valued function of the real variable, domain and range of these.
Dna is organized into two strands by the pairing of bases a to t and g to c on complementary strands. The papers give and overview of stateoftheart mathematical approaches to the understanding of dna structure and function, and the interaction of dna with proteins that mediate vital life processes. Dna structure and function, a timely and comprehensive resource, is intended for any student or scientist interested in dna structure and its biological implications. Structure and dynamics of the fourway dna junction. Cozzarelli, a dynamic leader who fostered research and training at the. Mathematics of dna structure, function and interactions the ima. This information is stored in the form of long polymer chains. Mathematical slices of molecular biology citeseerx.
Coiled coils and fourhelix bundle, rop protein design, alphadomain proteins ii. All traits derive from the interactions of proteins with each other and the. Structural biology and amino acids, history of macromolecular crystallography, amino acid chirality, noncovalent interactions and ramachandran map, secondary structures. Citeseerx document details isaac councill, lee giles, pradeep teregowda. During this process, two homologous dna molecules undergo strand exchange to form a fourway dna holliday junction. Discussion includes the notions of the linking number, writhe, and twist of closed dna, elastic rod models, sequencedependent basepair level models, statistical. The discovery of dna structure 55 years ago marked the beginning of a process that has transformed the foundations of biology and medicine, and accelerated the development of new. March 27, 2018 acknowledgments in this book i tried to present some of the knowledge and understanding i acquired in my four decades in the eld.
Mathematics of dna structure, function, and interactions. Enzymes that manipulate and control the geometry and topology of cellular dna perform many important cellular processes,including segregation of daughter chromosomes, gene regulation, dna repair, and generation of antibody diversity. This chapter discusses the structure and function of dna. In this section, we will discuss the basic structure and function of dna. Structure and function ofstructure and function of dnadna dr. It also explains current ideas on the biological significance of classic and alternative dna conformations. Controlling dnananoparticle serum interactions pnas. The mechanism by which gyrase is able to influence the topological state of dna molecules is of inherent. Mathematics of dna structure, function and interactions the ima volumes in mathematics and its applications. High taxonomic variability despite stable functional.
Chemically, dna is a very stable molecule, a characteristic important for a macromolecule that may have to persist in an intact form for a long period of time before its information is. Functions of dna and summary of structure dna consists of four basesa, g, c, and tthat are held in linear array by phosphodiester bonds through the 3 and 5 positions of adjacent deoxyribose moieties. Dna occupies a critical role in cells, because it is the source of all intrinsic genetic information. Copying errors cannot be the source of evolutionary progress, because if that were true, eventually all the letters would be equally probable. The dna and eight histones form a structure called a nucleosome. It also interacts with regulatory proteins through a sequence motif known as pcna interacting protein box pipbox.
Gyrase belongs to a class of enzymes known as topoisomerases that are involved in the control of topological transitions of dna. It forms a homotrimeric ring that embraces the dna and slides along it, anchoring dna polymerases and other dna editing enzymes. Microbial communities in the foliage of wild bromeliads exhibit remarkably stable functional community structure despite large variation in taxonomic composition, indicating that nonneutral. In eukaryotes, there are many replication forks along a strand of dna. Nucleotide monomer nitrogenous bases b 5c sugar s phosphate p nucleotide structure 1. Read and learn for free about the following article. The basebase interaction that contributes the most to the stabilization of the double helix is. Maryland council of teachers of mathematics mctm annual conference dundalk, md. Early evidence suggesting an rna intermediate between dna and proteins 1.
Nucleosomes allow the large amounts of material in human dna to be packaged into a size small enough to fit into a cell. The mathematics of dna sturcture, mechanics, and dynamics. Function as a special kind of relation from one set to another. The term junk has just stuck around from an older time. Dna and proteins makeup the majority of the approx. Here, we perform a systematic investigation of the molecular properties and. Dna mathematics our vision for professional development pd is to build a solid foundation of content knowledge for teaching mathematics and ultimately to extend that knowledge to students through the implementation of the tqe process from the making sense of mathematics for teaching series, led by dixon, nolan, adams, et al. Pdf the mathematics of dna sturcture, mechanics, and dynamics. Just keep in mind that dna is actually the instruction manual for organisms and even though all of our organisms are using the same 5 nucleic acids for building and replicating dna, it actually is the order that is making us the ones we are. Its one of two basic types of nucleic acids, the other being. The information encoded by dna is both digital the precise base specifying, for example, amino acid sequences and analogue.
Other important topics include the mechanisms by which proteins engage dna sequences andor alter dna structure. Mathematics and computation ias school of mathematics. Structurefunction relationship in dnabinding proteins. Junk dna has long been believed to have some sort of function, we are just unsure of what that function is most likely regulatory.
Genetic recombination is important in the repair of double strand dna breaks, the processing of stalled replication forks and in the generation of genetic diversity in evolution. Dnamediated nanoparticle assembly is an emerging concept to design drug delivery vehicles that can modify their structure or function in response to the in vivo environment. The mathematics of dna 295 the dna of any organism must be folded and packed in a complicated fashion in order to. Muskhelishvili dependent on the intrinsic superhelicity or on direct enzymatic manipulation to the short 10 region.