Metastable Intermediates in the Condensation of Semiflexible Polymers
arXiv:cond-mat/0112288 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.65.061904
Abstract
Motivated by results from an earlier Brownian Dynamics (BD) simulation for the collapse of a single, stiff polymer in a poor solvent [B. Schnurr, F. C. MacKintosh, and D. R. M. Williams, Europhys. Lett. 51 (3), 279 (2000)] we calculate the conformational energies of the intermediate (racquet) states suggested by the simulations. In the absence of thermal fluctuations (at zero temperature) the annealed shapes of these intermediates are well-defined in certain limits, with their major structural elements given by a particular case of Euler's elastica. In appropriate units, a diagram emerges which displays the relative stability of all states, tori and racquets. We conclude that, in marked contrast to the collapse of flexible polymers, the condensation of semiflexible or stiff polymers generically proceeds via a cascade through metastable intermediates, the racquets, towards a ground state, the torus or ring, as seen in the dynamical simulations.
14 pages, 16 figures (.eps), REVTeX4; shortened manuscript, removed 2 figures and tables
Cited by in corpus (20)
- Modeling semiflexible polymer networks
- Kinks, rings, and rackets in filamentous structures
- Collapse of a semiflexible polymer in poor solvent
- Control of stochastic and induced switching in biophysical networks
- Simulating the Entropic Collapse of Coarse-Grained Chromosomes
- Nucleosome interactions in chromatin: fiber stiffening and hairpin formation
- Apparent Persistence Length Renormalization of Bent DNA
- Adsorption at Liquid Interfaces Induces Amyloid Fibril Bending and Ring Formation
- From toroidal to rod-like condensates of semiflexible polymers
- Elastocapillary self-folding: buckling, wrinkling and collapse of floating filaments
- Longitudinal inverted compressibility in super-strained metamaterials
- Unraveling DNA tori under tension
- Coil--globule transition of a polymer involved in excluded-volume interactions with macromolecules
- Low energy states of a semiflexible polymer chain with attraction and the whip-toroid transitions
- Semiflexible polymer rings on topographically and chemically structured surfaces
- Effect of interaction shape on the condensed DNA toroid
- A formula for the minimal coordination number of a parallel bundle
- Condensation of circular DNA
- Deformation of loops in 2D packing of flexible rods
- Bio-Polymer Hairpin Loops Sustained by Polarons