Related papers: The Force-Velocity Relation for Growing Biopolymer…
We use Newtonian and overdamped Langevin dynamics to study long flexible polymers dragged by an external force at a constant velocity $v$. The work $W$ by that force depends on the initial state of the polymer and the details of the…
We study the conformations of polymer chains in a poor solvent, with and without bending rigidity, by means of a simple statistical mechanics model. This model can be exactly solved for chains of length up to N=55 using exact enumeration…
The number of configurations of a polymer is reduced in the presence of a barrier or an obstacle. The resulting loss of entropy adds a repulsive component to other forces generated by interaction potentials. When the obstructions are scale…
Biopolymer Networks play an important role in coordinating and regulating collective cellular dynamics via a number of signaling pathways. Here, we investigate the mechanical response of a model biopolymer network due to the active…
When two macromolecules come very near in a fluid, the surrounding molecules, having finite volume, are less likely to get in between. This leads to a pressure difference manifesting as an entropic attraction, called depletion force. Here…
We investigate the influence of polymer-pore interactions on the translocation dynamics using Langevin dynamics simulations. An attractive interaction can greatly improve translocation probability. At the same time, it also increases…
The translocation of a polymer through a pore in a membrane separating fluids of different viscosities is studied via several computational approaches. Starting with the polymer halfway, we find that as a viscosity difference across the…
Turgor is the driving force of plant growth, making possible for roots to overcome soil resistance or for stems to counteract gravity. Maintaining a constant growth rate while avoiding the cell content dilution, which would progressively…
We derive the stochastic equations of motion for a tracer that is tightly attached to a semiflexible polymer and confined or agitated by an externally controlled potential. The generalised Langevin equation, the power spectrum, and the…
We investigate stall force and polymerization kinetics of rigid protofilaments in a microtubule or interacting filaments in bundles under an external load force in the framework of a discrete growth model. We introduce the concecpt of…
We consider the passage of long polymers of length N through a hole in a membrane. If the process is slow, it is in principle possible to focus on the dynamics of the number of monomers s on one side of the membrane, assuming that the two…
The variational principle of minimum free energy (MFEVP) has been widely used in the study of soft matter statics. MFEVP can be used not only to derive equilibrium equations (including both bulk equations and boundary conditions), but also…
We study the dynamics and conformation of polymers composed by active monomers. By means of Brownian dynamics simulations we show that when the direction of the self-propulsion of each monomer is aligned with the backbone, the polymer…
A self-interacting polymer with one end attached to a sticky surface has been studied by means of a flat-histogram stochastic growth algorithm known as FlatPERM. We examined the four-dimensional parameter space of the number of monomers up…
The non-equilibrium structural and dynamical properties of semiflexible polymers confined to two dimensions are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. Three different scenarios are considered: The force-extension relation of…
Drag reduction by polymers in turbulent flows raises an apparent contradiction: the stretching of the polymers must increase the viscosity, so why is the drag reduced? A recent theory proposed that drag reduction in agreement with…
We present some results of Monte Carlo simulations for the deposition of particles of different sizes on a two-dimensional substrate. The particles are linear, height one, and can be deposited randomly only in the two, $x$ and $y$…
Loops undergoing thermal fluctuations are prevalent in nature. Ring-like or cross-linked polymers, cyclic macromolecules, and protein-mediated DNA loops all belong to this category. Stability of these molecules are generally described in…
The mechanical properties of the cell depend crucially on the tension of its cytoskeleton, a biopolymer network that is put under stress by active motor proteins. While the fibrous nature of the network is known to strongly affect the…
For the modelling of pedestrian dynamics we treat persons as self-driven objects moving in a continuous space. On the basis of a modified social force model we qualitatively analyze the influence of various approaches for the interaction…