dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaDriven Polymer Translocation Through a Narrow Pore
| Authors | David K. Lubensky, David R. Nelson |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/9902041 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/9902041 |
| DOI | 10.1016/S0006-3495(99)77027-X |
Abstract
Motivated by experiments in which a polynucleotide is driven through a proteinaceous pore by an electric field, we study the diffusive motion of a polymer threaded through a narrow channel with which it may have strong interactions. We show that there is a range of polymer lengths in which the system is approximately translationally invariant, and we develop a coarse-grained description of this regime. From this description, general features of the distribution of times for the polymer to pass through the pore may be deduced. We also introduce a more microscopic model. This model provides a physically reasonable scenario in which, as in experiments, the polymer's speed depends sensitively on its chemical composition, and even on its orientation in the channel. Finally, we point out that the experimental distribution of times for the polymer to pass through the pore is much broader than expected from simple estimates, and speculate on why this might be.
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"abstract": "Motivated by experiments in which a polynucleotide is driven through a\nproteinaceous pore by an electric field, we study the diffusive motion of a\npolymer threaded through a narrow channel with which it may have strong\ninteractions. We show that there is a range of polymer lengths in which the\nsystem is approximately translationally invariant, and we develop a\ncoarse-grained description of this regime. From this description, general\nfeatures of the distribution of times for the polymer to pass through the pore\nmay be deduced. We also introduce a more microscopic model. This model provides\na physically reasonable scenario in which, as in experiments, the polymer\u0027s\nspeed depends sensitively on its chemical composition, and even on its\norientation in the channel. Finally, we point out that the experimental\ndistribution of times for the polymer to pass through the pore is much broader\nthan expected from simple estimates, and speculate on why this might be.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/9902041",
"authors": [
"David K. Lubensky",
"David R. Nelson"
],
"categories": [
"physics.bio-ph",
"cond-mat.soft",
"q-bio.BM"
],
"doi": "10.1016/S0006-3495(99)77027-X",
"title": "Driven Polymer Translocation Through a Narrow Pore",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/9902041"
},
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