Wellposedness of a DNA replication model based on a nucleation-growth process

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze a nonlinear equation modeling the mechanical replication of the DNA molecule based on a Kolmogorov-Jhonson-Mehl-Avrami (KJMA) type model inspired on the mathematical analogy between the DNA replication process and the crystal growth. There are two different regions on the DNA molecule deep into a duplication process, the connected regions where the base pairs have been already duplicated, called eyes or islands and the regions not yet duplicated, called holes. The Cauchy problem associated with this model will be analyzed, where some dependences and nonlinearities on the replication velocity and the origins of replication are introduced.