Abstract
We use optical tweezers to study the effect of attractive versus repulsive DNA-DNA interactions on motor-driven viral packaging. Screening of repulsive interactions accelerates packaging, but induction of attractive interactions by causes heterogeneous dynamics. Acceleration is observed in a fraction of complexes, but most exhibit slowing and stalling, suggesting that attractive interactions promote nonequilibrium DNA conformations that impede the motor. Thus, repulsive interactions facilitate packaging despite increasing the energy of the theoretical optimum spooled DNA conformation.
- Received 27 February 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.248101
© 2014 American Physical Society
Synopsis
Repulsion Helps Virus Pack DNA
Published 17 June 2014
The motor that packs DNA into a virus works best if the DNA has some self-repulsion.
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