Wednesday Afternoon, October 25
MS34
Topology of Macromolecules
(Invited Minisymposium)
Macromolecules are large, flexible molecules which can assume a variety of
configurations in response to thermal motion, solvent effects, interaction
with other molecules, and experimental manipulation. The shape of these
molecules can be critically important to chemical activity and biological
function. Topological barriers between regions of conformation space can be
calculated, and the thermodynamic and entropic effects of topological
barriers can be computed, both rigorously in the asymptotic (length goes to
infinity) case, and numerically in the range of small to medium-sized
molecules. However, it is difficult to blend energetics with topological
reasoning, but mathematical arguments which do this are beginning to emerge.
The speakers in this minisymposium will discuss topologically-based
mathematical models of macromolecular shape and dynamics. Some of the topics they
will discuss are of DNA to build 3-dimensional molecular cages with specified
architecture, Monte Carlo numerical simulation and rigorous asymptotic proofs of
topological entanglement in long polymers, the dynamics of long bacterial
filaments, and the energies of knots and applications to DNA electrophoresis.
Organizer: De Witt L. Sumners
Florida State University
- 1:30 Control of DNA Structure
and Topology
- Nadrian C. Seeman, New York University
- 2:00 Random Knots and Links in Lattice Polygons
- Stuart G. Whittington,
University of Toronto, Canada
- 2:30 The Dynamics of Twist and Writhe
- Michael Tabor, University of Arizona
- 3:00 Knot Type and Physical Behavior
of DNA Loops
- Jonathan K. Simon, University of Iowa
7/27/95