Sequence-Dependent Effects on the Properties of Semiflexible Biopolymers
Abstract
Using path integral technique, we show exactly that for a semiflexible biopolymer in constant extension ensemble, no matter how long the polymer and how large the external force, the effects of short range correlations in the sequence-dependent spontaneous curvatures and torsions can be incorporated into a model with well-defined mean spontaneous curvature and torsion as well as a renormalized persistence length. Moreover, for a long biopolymer with large mean persistence length, the sequence-dependent persistence lengths can be replaced by their mean. However, for a short biopolymer or for a biopolymer with small persistence lengths, inhomogeneity in persistence lengths tends to make physical observables very sensitive to details and therefore less predictable.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0805.0469,
title = {Sequence-Dependent Effects on the Properties of Semiflexible Biopolymers},
author = {Zicong Zhou and Bela Joos},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0805.0469},
year = {2009}
}