Speaker
Prof.
Michael Anderson Lomholt
(University of Southern Denmark)
Description
The restriction enzyme EcoRV searches for its specific
target on DNA via facilitated diffusion exploiting a
combination of 1D sliding along DNA and 3D bulk diffusion.
This has been demonstrated in several experiments. However,
in vitro measurements of the overall search time of EcoRV
give results that are much smaller than the predictions of
standard models for facilitated diffusion. The discrepancy
can be explained by EcoRV having an inactive state. But this
seems to introduce a paradox, since the survival of E. coli
bacteria depends on the efficiency of the EcoRV target
search. In this talk I will explain how this paradox can be
resolved under in vivo conditions, and how the inactive
state turns out to be an advantage under conditions leading
to subdiffusion.
