Published August 13, 2017
| Submitted
Journal Article
Open
A mechanical model of bacteriophage DNA ejection
- Creators
- Arun, Rahul
- Ghosal, Sandip
Abstract
Single molecule experiments on bacteriophages show an exponential scaling for the dependence of mobility on the length of DNA within the capsid. It has been suggested that this could be due to the "capstan mechanism" – the exponential amplification of friction forces that result when a rope is wound around a cylinder as in a ship's capstan. Here we describe a desktop experiment that illustrates the effect. Though our model phage is a million times larger, it exhibits the same scaling observed in single molecule experiments.
Additional Information
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Received 6 March 2017, Revised 22 May 2017, Accepted 23 May 2017, Available online 29 May 2017. © 2017 This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ We wish to thank Prof. Sigurdur Thoroddsen (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) for helpful suggestions and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University for loan of the video camera. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.Attached Files
Submitted - 1705.10678.pdf
Files
1705.10678.pdf
Files
(1.9 MB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:969f808d3fcc5d27f39e6dc504f15b40
|
1.9 MB | Preview Download |
Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 79065
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20170713-084238945
- Created
-
2017-07-13Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field