dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaSymmetry-breaking in chiral polymerisation
| Authors | Jonathan AD Wattis, Peter V. Coveney |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0402091 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0402091 |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11084-005-0658-7 |
Abstract
We propose a model for chiral polymerisation and investigate its symmetric and asymmetric solutions. The model has a source species which decays into left- and right-handed types of monomer, each of which can polymerise to form homochiral chains; these chains are susceptible to `poisoning' by the opposite handed monomer. Homochiral polymers are assumed to influence the proportion of each type of monomer formed from the precursor. We show that for certain parameter values a positive feedback mechanism makes the symmetric steady-state solution unstable. The kinetics of polymer formation are then analysed in the case where the system starts from zero concentrations of monomer and chains. We show that following a long induction time, extremely large concentrations of polymers are formed for a short time, during this time an asymmetry introduced into the system by a random external perturbation may be massively amplified. The system then approaches one of the steady-state solutions described above.
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"abstract": "We propose a model for chiral polymerisation and investigate its symmetric\nand asymmetric solutions. The model has a source species which decays into\nleft- and right-handed types of monomer, each of which can polymerise to form\nhomochiral chains; these chains are susceptible to `poisoning\u0027 by the opposite\nhanded monomer. Homochiral polymers are assumed to influence the proportion of\neach type of monomer formed from the precursor. We show that for certain\nparameter values a positive feedback mechanism makes the symmetric steady-state\nsolution unstable. The kinetics of polymer formation are then analysed in the\ncase where the system starts from zero concentrations of monomer and chains. We\nshow that following a long induction time, extremely large concentrations of\npolymers are formed for a short time, during this time an asymmetry introduced\ninto the system by a random external perturbation may be massively amplified.\nThe system then approaches one of the steady-state solutions described above.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0402091",
"authors": [
"Jonathan AD Wattis",
"Peter V. Coveney"
],
"categories": [
"physics.bio-ph",
"nlin.AO",
"physics.chem-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1007/s11084-005-0658-7",
"title": "Symmetry-breaking in chiral polymerisation",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0402091"
},
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