The elastic properties of a molecule of duplex DNA are strongly dependent on nucleotide sequence. In the theory developed here the contribution c of the nth base-pair step to the elastic energy is assumed to be given by a function c̃ of six kinematical variables, called tilt, roll, twist, shift, slide, and rise, that describe the relative orientation and displacement of the nth and (n11)th base ...

The Trypanosoma cruzi acute infections acquired in infancy and childhood seem asymptomatic, but approximately one third of the chronically infected cases show Chagas disease up to three decades or later. Autoimmunity and parasite persistence are competing theories to explain the pathogenesis of Chagas disease. To separate roles played by parasite persistence and autoimmunity in Chagas disease w...

Kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), the mitochondrial DNA of the trypanosomatid Crithidia fasciculata, is a unique structure containing 5,000 DNA minicircles topologically linked into a massive network. In vivo, the network is condensed into a disk-shaped structure. Replication of minicircles initiates at unique origins that are bound by universal minicircle sequence (UMS)-binding protein (UMSBP), a sequen...