Mechanical conditions for stable symmetric cell constriction.

Cell constriction is a decisive step for division in many cells. However, its physical pathway remains poorly understood, calling for a quantitative analysis of the forces required in different cytokinetic scenarios. Using a model cell composed by a flexible membrane (actin cortex and cell membrane) that encloses the cytoplasm, we study the mechanical conditions necessary for stable symmetric constriction under radial equatorial forces using analytical and numerical methods.

Membrane curvature induces cardiolipin sorting.

Cardiolipin is a cone-shaped lipid predominantly localized in curved membrane sites of bacteria and in the mitochondrial cristae. This specific localization has been argued to be geometry-driven, since the CL's conical shape relaxes curvature frustration. Although previous evidence suggests a coupling between CL concentration and membrane shape in vivo, no precise experimental data are available for curvature-based CL sorting in vitro.

Modeling the Mechanics of Cell Division: Influence of Spontaneous Membrane Curvature, Surface Tension, and Osmotic Pressure.

Many cell division processes have been conserved throughout evolution and are being revealed by studies on model organisms such as bacteria, yeasts, and protozoa. Cellular membrane constriction is one of these processes, observed almost universally during cell division. It happens similarly in all organisms through a mechanical pathway synchronized with the sequence of cytokinetic events in the cell interior.

DNA synthesis determines the binding mode of the human mitochondrial single-stranded DNA-binding protein.

Single-stranded DNA-binding proteins (SSBs) play a key role in genome maintenance, binding and organizing single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) intermediates. Multimeric SSBs, such as the human mitochondrial SSB (HmtSSB), present multiple sites to interact with ssDNA, which has been shown in vitro to enable them to bind a variable number of single-stranded nucleotides depending on the salt and protein concentration. It has long been suggested that different binding modes might be used selectively for different functions.

Mechanics, thermodynamics, and kinetics of ligand binding to biopolymers.

Ligands binding to polymers regulate polymer functions by changing their physical and chemical properties. This ligand regulation plays a key role in many biological processes. We propose here a model to explain the mechanical, thermodynamic, and kinetic properties of the process of binding of small ligands to long biopolymers.

Fourth virial coefficient of additive hard-sphere mixtures in the Percus-Yevick and hypernetted-chain approximations.

The fourth virial coefficient of additive hard-sphere mixtures, as predicted by the Percus-Yevick (PY) and hypernetted-chain (HNC) theories, is derived via the compressibility, virial, and chemical-potential routes, the outcomes being compared with exact results. Except in the case of the HNC compressibility route, the other five expressions exhibit a common structure involving the first three moments of the size distribution. In both theories, the chemical-potential route is slightly better than the virial one and the best behavior is generally presented by the compressibility route.