6 research outputs found
A Selective Advantage for Conservative Viruses
In this letter we study the full semi-conservative treatment of a model for
the co-evolution of a virus and an adaptive immune system. Regions of viability
are calculated for both conservatively and semi-conservatively replicating
viruses interacting with a realistic semi-conservatively replicating immune
system. The conservative virus is found to have a selective advantage in the
form of an ability to survive in regions with a wider range of mutation rates
than its semi-conservative counterpart. This may help explain the existence of
a rich range of viruses with conservatively replicating genomes, a trait which
is found nowhere else in nature.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
The Importance of DNA Repair in Tumor Suppression
The transition from a normal to cancerous cell requires a number of highly
specific mutations that affect cell cycle regulation, apoptosis,
differentiation, and many other cell functions. One hallmark of cancerous
genomes is genomic instability, with mutation rates far greater than those of
normal cells. In microsatellite instability (MIN tumors), these are often
caused by damage to mismatch repair genes, allowing further mutation of the
genome and tumor progression. These mutation rates may lie near the error
catastrophe found in the quasispecies model of adaptive RNA genomes, suggesting
that further increasing mutation rates will destroy cancerous genomes. However,
recent results have demonstrated that DNA genomes exhibit an error threshold at
mutation rates far lower than their conservative counterparts. Furthermore,
while the maximum viable mutation rate in conservative systems increases
indefinitely with increasing master sequence fitness, the semiconservative
threshold plateaus at a relatively low value. This implies a paradox, wherein
inaccessible mutation rates are found in viable tumor cells. In this paper, we
address this paradox, demonstrating an isomorphism between the conservatively
replicating (RNA) quasispecies model and the semiconservative (DNA) model with
post-methylation DNA repair mechanisms impaired. Thus, as DNA repair becomes
inactivated, the maximum viable mutation rate increases smoothly to that of a
conservatively replicating system on a transformed landscape, with an upper
bound that is dependent on replication rates. We postulate that inactivation of
post-methylation repair mechanisms are fundamental to the progression of a
tumor cell and hence these mechanisms act as a method for prevention and
destruction of cancerous genomes.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures; Approximation replaced with exact calculation;
Minor error corrected; Minor changes to model syste
Electrostatic self-assembly of macroscopic crystals using contact electrification
Self-assembly1,2,3,4 of components larger than molecules into ordered arrays is an efficient way of preparing microstructured materials with interesting mechanical5,6 and optical7,8 properties. Although crystallization of identical particles9,10 or particles of different sizes11 or shapes12 can be readily achieved, the repertoire of methods to assemble binary lattices of particles of the same sizes but with different properties is very limited13,14. This paper describes electrostatic self-assembly15,16,17 of two types of macroscopic components of identical dimensions using interactions that are generated by contact electrification18,19,20. The systems we have examined comprise two kinds of objects (usually spheres) made of different polymeric materials that charge with opposite electrical polarities when agitated on flat, metallic surfaces. The interplay of repulsive interactions between like-charged objects and attractive interactions between unlike-charged ones results in the self-assembly of these objects into highly ordered, closed arrays. Remarkably, some of the assemblies that form are not electroneutral???that is, they possess a net charge. We suggest that the stability of these unusual structures can be explained by accounting for the interactions between electric dipoles that the particles in the aggregates induce in their neighbours