24小时热门版块排行榜    

查看: 1787  |  回复: 0

Bessel

木虫 (正式写手)

[交流] Postdoctoral position in theoretical physics/biophysics (France)

Postdoctoral position in theoretical physics/biophysics
Theory of the dynamics of DNA conformational changes. Comparison with Tethered Particle Motion experiments
par Manoel Manghi - 15 octobre
Contact : Manoel Manghi,           manghi@irsamc.ups-tlse.fr
              Nicolas Destainville        destain@irsamc.ups-tlse.fr
Laboratoire de Physique Th??orique, Universit?? de Toulouse and CNRS, France, www.lpt.ups-tlse.fr



The dynamics of DNA conformations induced by mechanical or biochemical constraints is a central issue for biologists and remains challenging for physicists. Indeed, on the biological point of view, it directly concerns the understanding of replication and transcription in vivo, which are out-of-equilibrium active processes.

Tethered Particle Motion (TPM) experiments, which are good candidates for exploring the local DNA dynamics in presence of its partner proteins, are developed in L. Salom????s group of the IPBS in Toulouse [1]. Based on the tracking of a nano-particle attached to the free end of a DNA molecule immobilized by the other end on a surface, the TPM technique reveals the conformational dynamics of the DNA molecule [1, 2]. In particular, it has proved to provide a refined characterization of DNA-protein interactions. Recently, Salom????s group has succeeded in developing a single-DNA chip integrating the TPM technique that makes possible massive parallel measurements [3]. On the theoretical side, DNA dynamics is usually modeled using the classical Rouse dynamics (or Zimm one, if hydrodynamic interactions are taken into account) [4], where DNA is seen as a simple polymer without internal structure. Although this approach is valid on length scales larger than 100 base-pairs, it fails at the smaller scale of interest, where taking the double helical structure into account becomes essential. Moreover, the dynamics becomes much more complex as soon as counterions, hydrodynamics interactions, external constraints (external or induced by partner proteins) are considered.

The theoretical work, to which the candidate will contribute, consists in elucidating a number of issues concerning the intra-chain DNA dynamics which might be observable in TPM experiments. The candidate will focus on the influence of local elastic properties (which varies with the local base-pairing state [5]) on the looping dynamics. For instance, it has recently been proposed [6] that the extremely slow closure of DNA denaturation bubbles (local DNA segments where base-pairs are broken), observed in experiments, is essentially due to a metastable barrier associated to the bending energy stored in the bubble (which is much more flexible than the double-helix segments). This metastable state is relaxed once the double-helix strands have diffused towards an aligned state. Such activation barriers might also play a central role in protein-DNA complexation, which are kinetically controlled. Types of questions that await answers are : How does the DNA local elasticity modify reaction rates ? How does the geometric constraint induced by proteins on DNA in synaptic complexes contribute to reactions rates and equilibrium constants ? Is the formation of local bubbles in constrained DNA a limiting step ? The experimental studies by TPM on the Xer-dif synapse (collaboration with biologists F. Cornet and P. Rousseau [2]) and the DNA looping by Lac repressor might be a challenging context for such a theoretical study.

The theoretical methods used in this study will be both standard analytical tools of non-equilibrium statistical physics (Langevin equation, mean first passage time, hydrodynamic interactions) and polymer physics (Worm-Like Chain model, transfer matrices), and numerical simulations (Kinetic Monte-Carlo, Brownian dynamics) [2, 7].

The candidate will join the Statistical Physics group of the Theoretical Physics Laboratory and participate to the ??TPM-on-a-chip?? ANR project in which is granted this two-years postdoctoral position starting on 1st semester of 2013. An effort will be made on the comparison with experiments done by the biophysicists involved in this pro ject (Salom????s group at IPBS and R. Phillips?? group of California Institute of Technology).

The salary will be of about 2040? per month (2650$) (before income taxes, after social taxes) and the candidate will benefit from the French health insurance (S??curit?? Sociale) and employment benefits.

Applicants should send their application letter along with their Curriculum Vitæ and publication list before March 1st, 2013. Recommendation letters are welcome.

References :
[1] N. Pouget, C. Turlan, N. Destainville, L. Salom??, M. Chandler. IS911 transpososome assembly as analysed by tethered particle motion, Nucl. Acids Res. 34 4313 (2006).
[2] M. Manghi, C. Tardin, P. Rousseau, J. Baglio, L. Salom??, N. Destainville, Probing DNA conformational changes with high temporal resolution by tethered particle motion, Phys. Biol. 7 046003 (2010).
[3] T. Plenat, C. Tardin, P. Rousseau, L. Salom??, High-throughput single-molecule analysis of DNA-protein interactions by tethered particle motion, Nucl. Acids Res. 40 e89 (2012).
[4] M. Doi, S.F. Edwards, The theory of polymer dynamics, Clarendon Press, 1986.
[5] J. Palmeri, M. Manghi, N. Destainville, Thermal denaturation of fluctuating DNA driven by bending entropy, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 088103 (2007).
[6] A.K. Dasanna, N. Destainville, J. Palmeri, M. Manghi, Strand diffusion-limited closure of denaturation bubbles in DNA, EPL 98 38002 (2012).
[7] M. Manghi, X. Schlagberger, Y.-W. Kim, R.R. Netz, Hydrodynamics effects in driven soft matter, Soft Matter 2 653 (2006).
回复此楼

» 猜你喜欢

已阅   回复此楼   关注TA 给TA发消息 送TA红花 TA的回帖

智能机器人

Robot (super robot)

我们都爱小木虫

相关版块跳转 我要订阅楼主 Bessel 的主题更新
普通表情 高级回复 (可上传附件)
最具人气热帖推荐 [查看全部] 作者 回/看 最后发表
[考研] 材料与化工304求B区调剂 +6 邱gl 2026-03-11 7/350 2026-03-17 01:27 by 学员FnSWZj
[考研] 0703化学336分求调剂 +3 zbzihdhd 2026-03-15 4/200 2026-03-16 23:52 by zbzihdhd
[考研] 考研化学学硕调剂,一志愿985 +3 张vvvv 2026-03-15 5/250 2026-03-16 20:25 by 张vvvv
[考研] 材料专硕306英一数二 +4 z1z2z3879 2026-03-16 6/300 2026-03-16 19:38 by z1z2z3879
[考研] 化学调剂0703 +8 啊我我的 2026-03-11 8/400 2026-03-16 17:23 by 我的船我的海
[考研] 0703化学调剂 ,六级已过,有科研经历 +7 曦熙兮 2026-03-15 7/350 2026-03-16 16:34 by houyaoxu
[考研] 070303一志愿西北大学学硕310找调剂 +5 d如愿上岸 2026-03-12 8/400 2026-03-16 15:19 by peike
[考研] 070303 总分349求调剂 +3 LJY9966 2026-03-15 5/250 2026-03-16 14:24 by xwxstudy
[考研] 求老师收留调剂 +4 jiang姜66 2026-03-14 5/250 2026-03-15 20:11 by Winj1e
[考研] 26考研一志愿中国石油大学(华东)305分求调剂 +3 嘉年新程 2026-03-15 3/150 2026-03-15 13:58 by 哈哈哈哈嘿嘿嘿
[考研] 328求调剂 +3 5201314Lsy! 2026-03-13 6/300 2026-03-14 15:31 by hyswxzs
[考研] 一志愿哈工大材料324分求调剂 +5 闫旭东 2026-03-14 5/250 2026-03-14 14:53 by 木瓜膏
[考研] 308求调剂 +3 是Lupa啊 2026-03-10 3/150 2026-03-14 00:30 by JourneyLucky
[考研] 材料与化工求调剂一志愿 985 总分 295 +8 dream…… 2026-03-12 8/400 2026-03-13 22:17 by 星空星月
[考研] 求调剂(材料与化工327) +4 爱吃香菜啦 2026-03-11 4/200 2026-03-13 22:11 by JourneyLucky
[考研] 315求调剂 +9 小羊小羊_ 2026-03-11 10/500 2026-03-13 21:13 by SXNU李老师
[考研] 求b区学校调剂 +3 周56 2026-03-11 3/150 2026-03-13 16:20 by JourneyLucky
[考研] 工科材料085601 279求调剂 +8 困于星晨 2026-03-12 10/500 2026-03-13 15:42 by ms629
[考研] 土木第一志愿276求调剂,科研和技能十分丰富,求新兴方向的导师收留 +3 土木小天才 2026-03-12 3/150 2026-03-13 15:01 by JourneyLucky
[考博] 26申博求助 +3 跳跃饼干 2026-03-10 4/200 2026-03-10 21:15 by Tntcnn
信息提示
请填处理意见