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We present a simple analytical theory of flexible polymer chain dissolved in a good solvent, carrying permanent freely oriented dipoles on the monomers. We take into account the dipole correlations within the random phase approximation…
In order to better understand the collapse of polyions in poor solvent conditions the effective charge and the solvent quality of the hypothetically uncharged polymer backbone need to be known. In the present work this is achieved by…
Protein folding produces characteristic and functional three-dimensional structures from unfolded polypeptides or disordered coils. The emergence of extraordinary complexity in the protein folding process poses astonishing challenges to…
A phase diagram for a surface interacting long flexible partially directed polymer chain in a two-dimensional poor solvent where the possibility of collapse in the bulk exists is determined using exact enumeration method. We used a model of…
In a system of interdependent networks, an initial failure of nodes invokes a cascade of iterative failures that may lead to a total collapse of the whole system in a form of an abrupt first order transition. When the fraction of initial…
The long debated protein dynamical transition was recently found also in non-biological macromolecules, such as poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) microgels. Here, by using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, we report a description…
Droplet coalescence is ubiquitous in nature and the same time key to various technologies, such as inkjet printing. Here, we report on the coalescence of polymer droplets with different chain lengths coalescing on substrates of different…
A kinetic model for the nucleation mechanism of protein folding is proposed. A protein is modeled as a heteropolymer consisting of hydrophobic and hydrophilic beads with equal constant bond lengths and bond angles. The total energy of the…
Core collapse is a prominent evolutionary stage of self-gravitating systems. In an idealised collisionless approximation, the region around the cluster core evolves in a self-similar way prior to the core collapse. Thus, its radial density…
Helices are a key folding motif in protein structure. The question which factors determine helix stability for a given polypeptide or protein is an ongoing challenge. Here we use van der Waals corrected density-functional theory to address…
We explain the physical basis of a model for small globular proteins with water interactions. The water is supposed to access the protein interior in an "all-or-none" manner during the unfolding of the protein chain. As a consequence of…
Gradual disruption of the actin cytoskeleton induces a series of structural shape changes in cells leading to a transformation of cylindrical cell extensions into a periodic chain of "pearls". Quantitative measurements of the pearling…
The protein folding problem must ultimately be solved on all length scales from the atomic up through a hierarchy of complicated structures. By analyzing the stability of the folding process using physics and mathematics, this paper shows…
At the end of the 19th century, Rayleigh and Plateau explained the physical principle behind the fragmentation of a liquid jet into regular droplets commonly observed in everyday life from a faucet. The classical Rayleigh-Plateau…
Novel numerical techniques, validated by an analysis of barnase and chymotrypsin inhibitor, are used to elucidate the paramount role played by the geometry of the protein backbone in steering the folding to the correct native state. It is…
The effective elasticity of highly charged stiff polyelectrolytes is studied in the presence of counterions, with and without added salt. The rigid polymer conformations may become unstable due to an effective attraction induced by…
Polymer gels behave as soft viscoelastic solids and exhibit a generic nonlinear mechanical response characterized by pronounced stiffening prior to irreversible failure, most often through macroscopic fractures. Here, we aim at capturing…
Unfolded proteins may contain native or non-native residual structure, which has important implications for the thermodynamics and kinetics of folding as well as for misfolding and aggregation diseases. However, it has been universally…
Different aspects of protein folding are illustrated by simplified polymer models. Stressing the diversity of side chains (residues) leads one to view folding as the freezing transition of an heteropolymer. Technically, the most common…
We discuss collapse of icosadeltahedral shells subjected to uniform external pressure. We demonstrate that there is a universal collapse pressure curve. The parameter that uniquely determines the collapse pressure is shown to be the…