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Active and thermal fluctuations in multi-scale polymer structure and dynamics.

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Biological fluctuations and active forces influence polymer dynamics. This study reveals a time-dependent temperature governing non-equilibrium systems, impacting polymer structure and motion across different length scales.

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Area of Science:

  • Physics
  • Biophysics
  • Polymer Science

Background:

  • Biological systems utilize athermal noise and fluctuations for essential life processes.
  • Understanding the interplay between thermal and active forces in biological polymers is crucial for deciphering cellular mechanics.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To provide an exact analytical treatment of the dynamic behavior of a flexible polymer chain under thermal and active forces.
  • To investigate how enzymatic activity-driven forces affect polymer structure and dynamics.
  • To analyze the multi-scale effects of active forces on polymer relaxation times and effective temperature.

Main Methods:

  • Developed an analytical model for active forces incorporating temporal correlations from enzymatic function (ATP hydrolysis).
  • Analyzed the dynamic structure factor and looping time of an active-Brownian polymer.
  • Investigated the spectrum of relaxation times across different length scales within the polymer chain.

Main Results:

  • Identified distinct behaviors at small and large length scales due to competing timescales.
  • Demonstrated that small length scales are governed by thermal temperature, unaffected by active forces.
  • Showed that large length scales exhibit an effective active-Brownian temperature, significantly altering dynamics and structure.

Conclusions:

  • Active forces introduce a multi-scale complexity, leading to a time-dependent effective temperature in biological systems.
  • This effective temperature acts as a unifying concept for interpreting and predicting the physical behavior of living and non-equilibrium systems.
  • The findings offer insights into how biological fluctuations and active processes collectively regulate cellular functions.