Related papers: Pre-transition effects mediate forces of assembly …
Single-molecule atomic force spectroscopy probes elastic properties of titin, ubiquitin and other relevant proteins. We explain bioprotein folding dynamics under both length- and force-clamp by modeling polyprotein modules as particles in a…
Exploring structural order in disordered systems including liquids and glasses is an intriguing but challenging issue in condensed matter physics. Here we construct a new parameter based on the angular distribution function of particles and…
Hydrophobic interactions provide driving forces for protein folding, membrane formation, and oil-water separation. Motivated by information theory, the poorly understood nonpolar solute interactions in water are investigated. A simple…
A theory is constructed for dense ionic solutions near charged planar walls that is valid for strong inter-ionic correlations. This theory predicts a fluctuation-induced, first-order transition and spontaneous charge density ordering at the…
We use a free energy functional theory to elucidate general properties of heterogeneously ordering, fast folding proteins, and we test our conclusions with lattice simulations. We find that both structural and energetic heterogeneity can…
We study the phase structure of a phantom tethered surface model shedding light on the internal degrees of freedom (IDOF), which correspond to the three-dimensional rod like structure of the lipid molecules. The so-called tilt order is…
Biofilament-motor protein complexes are ubiquitous in biology and drive the transport of cargo vital for many fundamental cellular processes. As they move, motor proteins exert compressive forces on the filaments to which they are attached,…
This paper is concerned with the effective transport properties of heterogeneous media in which there is a high contrast between the phase diffusivities. In this case the transient response of the slow phase induces a memory effect at the…
In this paper, we examine the mechanical role of the lipid bilayer in ion channel conformation and function with specific reference to the case of the mechanosensitive channel of large conductance (MscL). In a recent paper (Wiggins and…
The rich thermotropic behavior of lipid bilayers is addressed using phenomenological theory informed by many experiments. The most recent experiment not yet addressed by theory has shown that the tilt modulus in DMPC lipid bilayers…
The papers [1,2] consider unbinding of a disordered heteropolymer. They find the first order phase transition [1] when disorder is strong (i.e. the ratio v of the binding energies is large; in DNA v is~1.1) and the Griffiths singularity,…
Many of the cell membrane vital functions are achieved by the self-organization of the proteins and biopolymers embedded in it. The protein dynamics are in part determined by its drag. A large number of these proteins can polymerize to form…
Conformational transitions of flexible molecules, especially those driven by hydrophobic effects, tend to be hindered by desolvation barriers. For such transitions, it is thus important to characterize and understand the interplay between…
A liquid drop containing a long fiber is a complex system whose configuration is determined by an interplay of elastic stresses in the fiber and capillary forces due to the liquid. We study the morphological evolution of fibers that are…
Protein phase transitions govern numerous diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. In Parkinson's disease, distinct species of the protein alpha-synuclein undergo phase transitions from highly…
Surface-induced liquid crystalline phase transitions evoke fundamental interest and can provide deeper insight into the nature of low-dimensional phase transitions. Board-like conjugated polymers are particularly interesting because they…
We show that when a self-avoiding polymer chain is pulled off a sticky surface by force applied to the end segment, it undergoes a first-order thermodynamic phase transition albeit without phase coexistence. This unusual feature is…
Membrane bending is an extensively studied problem from both modeling and experimental perspectives because of the wide implications of curvature generation in cell biology. Many of the curvature generating aspects in membranes can be…
We systematically explore the self-assembly of semi-flexible polymers in deformable spherical confinement across a wide regime of chain stiffness, contour lengths and packing fractions by means of coarse-grained molecular dynamics…
The tendency of amphiphilic molecules to form micelles in aqueous solution is a consequence of the hydrophobic effect. The fundamental difference between micelle assembly and macroscopic phase separation is the stoichiometric constraint…