title: Global analysis of the ground-state wrapping conformation of a charged polymer on an oppositely charged nano-sphere.
abstract: We investigate the wrapping conformations of a single, strongly adsorbed polymer chain on an oppositely charged nano-sphere by employing a reduced (dimensionless) representation of a primitive chain-sphere model. This enables us to determine the global behavior of the chain conformation in a wide range of values for the system parameters including the chain contour length, its linear charge density and persistence length as well as the nano-sphere charge and radius, and also the salt concentration in the bathing solution. The structural behavior of a charged chain-sphere complex can be described in terms of a few distinct conformational symmetry classes separated by continuous or discontinuous transition lines which are determined by means of appropriately defined (order) parameters. Our results can be applied to a wide class of strongly coupled polymer-sphere complexes including, for instance, complexes that comprise a mechanically flexible or semiflexible polymer chain or an extremely short or long chain and, as a special case, include the biologically relevant example of DNA-histone complexes.
authors.affiliation: Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimalle 14, 14195, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Hoda
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Boroudjerdi
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Naji
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Naji
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Netz
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D006657:Histones / Q000737:chemistry; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D012492:Salts / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D006657:Histones; D011108:Polymers; D012492:Salts; D004247:DNA