Elastically-Driven Linker Aggregation between Two Semi-Flexible Polyelectrolytes

Abstract

The behavior of mobile linkers connecting two semi-flexible charged polymers, such as polyvalent counterions connecting DNA or F-actin chains, is studied theoretically. The chain bending rigidity induces an effective repulsion between linkers at large distances while the inter-chain electrostatic repulsion leads to an effective short range inter-linker attraction. We find a rounded phase transition from a dilute linker gas where the chains form large loops between linkers to a dense disordered linker fluid connecting parallel chains. The onset of chain pairing occurs within the rounded transition.

4 pages including 3 postscript figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett

References in corpus (2)

• Why is the DNA Denaturation Transition First Order?
• Binding of molecules to DNA and other semiflexible polymers

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