Physics of Living Matter
Research members： Yoshihiro Murayama PhD.
Research fields： Physics
Departments： Institute of Engineering
Keywords： biopolymers, single molecule, optical/magnetic tweezers, DNA, active matter, Volvox, fluctuation, response, non-equilibrium system
Web site：
Summary
We study DNA-protein interactions, diffusions in cells, and stochastic motions of microorganisms from physical point of view. Single DNA molecules are stretched and/or twisted by using optical, magnetic, and/or newly-developed tweezers to investigate interactions between DNA and proteins or higher order structural changes of DNA at single molecule level. Stochastic motions of a microorganism, Volvox, are also studied to elucidate relations among fluctuation, response and adaptation in active matter. The following researches are now underway in our laboratory.
1) Elucidation of effects of thermal fluctuations of DNA on DNA-protein interactions
2) Observation of higher order structural changes of single DNA molecules by using newly-developed tweezers
3) Elucidation of anomalous diffusion in inhomogeneous media
4) Elucidation of principles of relations among fluctuation, response, and adaptation in stochastic motions of Volvox colonies and cells.
Reference articles and patents
1) “Detection of change in elastic properties of a stretched DNA by using correlation functions of fluctuations”, Y. Murayama, Y. Yogiashi, T. Iwamoto, Y. Mitsuhashi, and H. Homma, AIP Conference Proceedings, 1518, 619-622, 2013.
2) “Force-Fluctuation Relation of a Single DNA Molecule”, T. BABA, T. SAKAUE, and Y. MURAYAMA, Macromolecules, 45, 2857-2862, 2012.
3) “Dynamic force spectroscopy of a single condensed DNA”,Y. Murayama, H. Wada, and M. Sano, EPL, 79, 58001, 2007.
4) “Elastic Response of Single DNA Molecules Exhibits a Reentrant Collapsing Transition”, Y. Murayama, Y. Sakamaki, and M. Sano, Phys. Rev. Lett., 90, 018102, 2003.
Contact
University Research Administration Center(URAC),
Tokyo University of Agriculture andTechnology
urac[at]ml.tuat.ac.jp
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