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Non-monotonic dependence of polymer chain dynamics on active crowder size
- Source :
- The Journal of chemical physics. 152(20)
- Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- Configuration dynamics of flexible polymer chains is of ubiquitous importance in many biological processes. Here, we investigate a polymer chain immersed in a bath of size-changed active particles in two dimensional space using Langevin dynamics simulations. Particular attention is paid to how the radius of gyration Rg of the polymer chain depends on the size σc of active crowders. We find that Rg shows nontrivial non-monotonic dependence on σc: The chain first swells upon increasing σc, reaching a fully expanded state with maximum Rg, and then, Rg decreases until the chain collapses to a compact coil state if the crowder is large enough. Interestingly, the chain may oscillate between a collapse state and a stretched state at moderate crowder size. Analysis shows that it is the competition between two effects of active particles, one stretching the chain from inside due to persistence motion and the other compressing the chain from outside, that leads to the non-monotonic dependence. Besides, the diffusion of the polymer chain also shows nontrivial non-monotonic dependence on σc. Our results demonstrate the important interplay between particle activity and size associated with polymer configurations in active crowding environments.
- Subjects :
- chemistry.chemical_classification
Quantitative Biology::Biomolecules
Materials science
010304 chemical physics
Dynamics (mechanics)
General Physics and Astronomy
Monotonic function
Polymer
010402 general chemistry
01 natural sciences
0104 chemical sciences
Chain (algebraic topology)
chemistry
Chemical physics
0103 physical sciences
Radius of gyration
Particle
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Diffusion (business)
Langevin dynamics
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10897690
- Volume :
- 152
- Issue :
- 20
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Journal of chemical physics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....eebc954598c64aec212694ca242a918d