Crosslinked biopolymer bundles: crosslink reversibility leads to cooperative binding/unbinding phenomena
arXiv:1109.6482 · doi:10.1063/1.3675832
Abstract
We consider a biopolymer bundle consisting of filaments that are crosslinked together. The crosslinks are reversible: they can dynamically bind and unbind adjacent filament pairs as controlled by a binding enthalpy. The bundle is subjected to a bending deformation and the corresponding distribution of crosslinks is measured. For a bundle consisting of two filaments, upon increasing the bending amplitude, a first-order transition is observed. The transition is from a state where the filaments are tightly coupled by many bound crosslinks, to a state of nearly independent filaments with only a few bound crosslinks. For a bundle consisting of more than two filaments, a series of first-order transitions is observed. The transitions are connected with the formation of an interface between regions of low and high crosslink densities. Combining umbrella sampling Monte Carlo simulations with analytical calculations, we present a detailed picture of how the competition between crosslink shearing and filament stretching drives the transitions. We also find that, when the crosslinks become soft, collective behavior is not observed: the crosslinks then unbind one after the other leading to a smooth decrease of the average crosslink density.
12 pages, 13 figures
References in corpus (6)
- A master relation defines the nonlinear viscoelasticity of single fibroblasts
- Transient Binding and Dissipation in Semi-flexible Polymer Networks
- Statistical Mechanics of Semiflexible Bundles of Wormlike Polymer Chains
- Adhesion of membranes via receptor-ligand complexes: Domain formation, binding cooperativity, and active processes
- Theory of Crosslinked Bundles of Helical Filaments: Intrinsic Torques in Self-Limiting Biopolymer Assemblies
- Cooperative crosslink (un)binding in slowly driven bundles of semiflexible filaments