- THIS ARTICLE
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- SERVICES
- Email this article to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Alert me to new issues of the journal
- Download to citation manager
- Reprints & Permissions
- CITING ARTICLES
- Citing Articles via Google Scholar
- GOOGLE SCHOLAR
- Articles by Nicodemi, M.
- Articles by Prisco, A.
- Search for Related Content
- PUBMED
- PubMed Citation
- Articles by Nicodemi, M.
- Articles by Prisco, A.
Genetics, Vol. 179, 717-721, May 2008, Copyright © 2008
doi:10.1534/genetics.107.083154
A Thermodynamic Switch for Chromosome Colocalization
Mario Nicodemi*,
,1,
Barbara Panning
and
Antonella Prisco
* Department of Physics and Complexity Science, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom, Istituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare, I-80125 Napoli, Italy, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, California 94158 and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Institute of Genetics and Biophysics, 80131 Napoli, Italy
1 Corresponding author: University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Rd., Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
E-mail: mario.nicodemi{at}na.infn.it
A general model for the early recognition and colocalization of homologous DNA sequences is proposed. We show, on thermodynamic grounds, how the distance between two homologous DNA sequences is spontaneously regulated by the concentration and affinity of diffusible mediators binding them, which act as a switch between two phases corresponding to independence or colocalization of pairing regions.