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Compressed wormlike chain moving out of confined space: A model of DNA ejection from bacteriophage

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Abstract

The molecular biomechanics of DNA ejection from bacteriophage is of interest to not only fundamental biological understandings but also practical applications such as the design of advanced site-specific and controllable drug delivery systems. In this paper, we analyze the viscous motion of a semiflexible polymer chain coming out of a strongly confined space as a model to investigate the effects of various structure confinements and frictional resistances encountered during the DNA ejection process. The theoretically predicted relations between the ejection speed, ejection time, ejection length, and other physical parameters, such as the phage type, total genome length and ionic state of external buffer solutions, show excellent agreement with in vitro experimental observations in the literature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Mechanics on Disaster and Environment in Western China, Ministry of Education, School of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, China

    Ji-Zeng Wang & Long Li

  2. School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, 02912, USA

    Hua-Jian Gao

Authors
  1. Ji-Zeng Wang
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  2. Long Li
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  3. Hua-Jian Gao
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ji-Zeng Wang or Hua-Jian Gao.

Additional information

The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11032006, 11072094, and 11121202), the PhD Program Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China (20100211110022), and New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-10-0445). The work of HG is supported by the National Science Foundation through grant CMMI-1028530 to Brown University.

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Wang, JZ., Li, L. & Gao, HJ. Compressed wormlike chain moving out of confined space: A model of DNA ejection from bacteriophage. Acta Mech Sin 28, 1219–1226 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-012-0121-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-012-0121-8

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