Related papers: Transient helix formation in semiflexible polymers…
Molecular dynamics simulations are used to study structure formation in simple model polymer chains that are subject to excluded volume and torsional interactions. The changing conformations exhibited by chains of different lengths under…
We present Monte Carlo simulation results for square-well homopolymers at a series of bond lengths. Although the model contains only isotropic pairwise interactions, under appropriate conditions this system shows spontaneous chiral symmetry…
The equations for strands of rigid charge configurations interacting nonlocally are formulated on the special Euclidean group, SE(3), which naturally generates helical conformations. Helical stationary shapes are found by minimizing the…
The occurrence of coiled or helical morphologies is common in nature, from plant roots to DNA packaging into viral capsids, as well as in applications such as oil drilling processes. In many examples, chiral structures result from the…
The folding of a polypeptide is an example of the cooperative effects of the amino-acid residues. Of recent interest is how a secondary structure, such as a helix, spontaneously forms during the collapse of a peptide from an initial…
The dynamics of loop formation by linear polymer chains has been a topic of several theoretical/experimental studies. Formation of loops and their opening are key processes in many important biological processes. Loop formation in flexible…
Microbial flagellates typically inhabit complex suspensions of polymeric material which can impact the swimming speed of motile microbes, filter-feeding of sessile cells, and the generation of biofilms. There is currently a need to better…
We introduce a simple geometric model for a double-stranded and double-helical polymer. We study the statistical mechanics of such polymers using both analytical techniques and simulation. Our model has a single energy-scale which…
By means of Langevin dynamics simulations, we investigate the gel formation of randomly functionalized polymers in solution, with the ability to form both intra- and intermolecular reversible bonds. Under highly dilute conditions, these…
Configurational fluctuations of conducting polymers in solution can bring into proximity monomers which are distant from each other along the backbone. Electrons can hop between these monomers across the "bridges" so formed. We show how…
We explore the coupling between the helix-coil and coil-globule transitions of a helical polymer using Monte Carlo simulations. A very rich state diagram is found. Each state is characterized by a specific configuration of the chain which…
An efficient numerical framework is presented for modeling viscoelasticity and permanent set of polymers. It is based on the hereditary integral form of transient network theory, in which polymer chains belong to distinct networks each with…
We consider the motion of semiflexible polymers in double-well potentials. We calculate shape, energy, and effective diffusion constant of kink excitations, and in particular their dependence on the bending rigidity of the semiflexible…
The authors study the short-time dynamics of helix-forming polypeptide chains using an all-atom representation of the molecules and an implicit solvation model to approximate the interaction with the surrounding solvent. The results confirm…
Inspired by recent experiments on the spatial organization of bacterial chromosomes, we consider a type of "bottle brush" polymer consisting of a flexible backbone chain, to which flexible side loops are connected. We show that such a model…
Here, we provide an overview of theoretical approaches to semiflexible polymers and their networks. Such semiflexible polymers have large bending rigidities that can compete with the entropic tendency of a chain to crumple up into a random…
We study the model of a partially directed flexible or semi-flexible homopolymer on a square lattice, subject to an externally applied force, in a direction either parallel to, or perpendicular to the preferred direction. The polymer is…
Helices are the quintessential geometric motif of the microscale, from alpha-helices in proteins to double helices in DNA. Assembly of the helical geometry of biopolymers is a foundational step in a hierarchy of structure that eventually…
Active processes in living systems generate nonequilibrium forces that deform embedded passive macromolecules. To understand how such dynamics influence polymer conformation, we study a flexible passive chain in an active nematic fluid.…
The longitudinal response of single semiflexible polymers to sudden changes in externally applied forces is known to be controlled by the propagation and relaxation of backbone tension. Under many experimental circumstances, realized, e.g.,…