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Membrane Transport Processes Analyzed by a Highly Parallel Nanopore Chip System at Single Protein Resolution
Published on: August 16, 2016
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Polymer translocation through nanopore into active bath.
Mingfeng Pu1, Huijun Jiang1, Zhonghuai Hou1
1Department of Chemical Physics and Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscales, iChEM, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China.
The Journal of Chemical Physics
|November 10, 2016
Summary
Polymer translocation through nanopores is influenced by active particle baths. Increasing particle activity can initially slow down, then speed up translocation, with an optimal intermediate concentration for faster movement.
Area of Science:
- Soft matter physics
- Biophysics
- Statistical mechanics
Background:
- Polymer translocation through nanopores is crucial for biological processes.
- Understanding translocation in crowded environments is essential.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate polymer translocation into an active bath of self-propelled particles.
- Analyze the effects of particle activity and concentration on translocation dynamics.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Langevin dynamics simulations in two-dimensional space.
- Examined mean translocation time (τ) as a function of particle activity (Fa) and volume fraction (ϕ).
Main Results:
- Observed a bell-shaped dependence of τ on Fa, with slower translocation at low activity and acceleration at high activity.
- Found that τ exhibits a minimum at intermediate ϕ for sufficiently high Fa, indicating an optimal concentration.
- Identified a dual role of active particles: hindering translocation near the pore and pulling the polymer.
Conclusions:
- Active particle baths exhibit complex, non-monotonic effects on polymer translocation.
- Particle accumulation near the pore hinders, while aggregation along the polymer chain pulls, influencing translocation time.
- The interplay between these forces dictates the overall translocation dynamics in active media.
