title: Stabilization of Helical Macromolecular Phases by Confined Bending.
abstract: By means of extensive replica-exchange simulations of generic coarse-grained models for helical polymers, we systematically investigate the structural transitions into all possible helical phases for flexible and semiflexible elastic polymers with self-interaction under the influence of torsion barriers. The competing interactions lead to a variety of conformational phases including disordered helical arrangements, single helices, and ordered, tertiary helix bundles. Most remarkably, we find that a bending restraint entails a clear separation and stabilization of the helical phases. This aids in understanding why semiflexible polymers such as double-stranded DNA tend to form pronounced helical structures and proteins often exhibit an abundance of helical structures, such as helix bundles, within their tertiary structure.
authors.affiliation: Soft Matter Systems Research Group, Center for Simulational Physics, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Soft Matter Systems Research Group, Center for Simulational Physics, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA.|Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, 78060-900 Cuiabá (MT), Brazil.|Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte (MG), Brazil.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bachmann