Shapes of semiflexible polymers in confined spaces.
Biological macromolecules, living in the confines of a cell, often adopt conformations that are unlikely to occur in free space. In this paper, we investigate the effects of confinement on the shape of a semiflexible chain. Results of Monte Carlo simulations show the existence of a shape transition when the persistence length of the polymer becomes comparable to the dimensions of the box. An order parameter is introduced to quantify this behavior. A simple model is constructed to study the effect of the shape transition on the effective persistence length of the polymer.
Liu
Ya
Y
Martin Fisher School of Physics, Brandeis University, Mailstop 057, Waltham, MA 02454-9110, USA.
Chakraborty
Bulbul
B
D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*
D011108:Polymers; D004247:DNA