DNA behaves like a necklace with visible and invisible beads

The distribution of genes across the DNA can be described well by means of theories of one-dimensional gases.

This is shown by the work of researchers of the FOM-Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF) in Amsterdam and the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge (Great Britain).

Between the genes themselves lie pieces of DNA that are responsible for the regulation of genes. These pieces have a different length in each organism and are much harder to recognise than the genes themselves. As it turns out, it is possible to distinguish different categories of neighbouring gene pairs and to separately calculate the length of regions directly before and after genes by thinking of DNA as a one-dimensional gas, or a necklace of particles that repel each other at a short distance. The researchers will publish their findings in the May issue of TRENDS in Genetics, one of the most established scientific journals in genetics.

Press release on FOM website (in Dutch)

(April 2008)