Entropy involved in fidelity of DNA replication.

ABSTRACT: Information has an entropic character which can be analyzed within the framework of the Statistical Theory in molecular systems. R. Landauer and C.H. Bennett showed that a logical copy can be carried out in the limit of no dissipation if the computation is performed sufficiently slowly. Structural and recent single-molecule assays have provided dynamic details of polymerase machinery with insight into information processing. Here, we introduce a rigorous characterization of Shannon Information in biomolecular systems and apply it to DNA replication in the limit of no dissipation. Specifically, we devise an equilibrium pathway in DNA replication to determine the entropy generated in copying the information from a DNA template in the absence of friction. Both the initial state, the free nucl

SUBMITTER: Arias-Gonzalez JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3415459 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature