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The Role of DNA Twist in the Packaging of Viral Genomes
- Article from:
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Biophysical Journal
- Article date:
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March 1, 2008
- Author:
- Rollins, Geoffrey C; Petrov, Anton S; Harvey, Stephen C
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Copyright informationCopyright Biophysical Society Mar 1, 2008. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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ABSTRACT
We performed molecular dynamics simulations of the genome packaging of bacteriophage P4 using two coarse-grained models of DNA. The first model, 1DNA6 (one pseudo-atom per six DNA basepairs), represents DNA as a string of beads, for which DNA torsions are undefined. The second model, 3DNA6 (three pseudo-atoms per six DNA basepairs), represents DNA as a series of base planes with torsions defined by the angles between successive planes. Bacteriophage P4 was packaged with 1DNA6, 3DNA6 in a torsionally relaxed state, and 3DNA6 in a torsionally strained state. We observed good agreement between the packed conformation of 1DNA6 and the packed conformations of 3DNA6. The free energies of ...