title: Torque-winding interdependence for a flexible polymer chain wound around a cylinder in the presence of obstacles.
abstract: Polymer chains winding around each other or around other objects occur in many natural systems; the physical consequences of this winding are therefore of significant interest. A polymer chain could be surrounded by various bulky objects (referred as obstacles), such as other macromolecules or macromolecular aggregates. Here we show that for a long flexible polymer chain wound around a cylinder, the presence of obstacles could modify the winding-torque interdependence, in some cases leading to phase-transition-like behavior in which the winding occurs only when the torque exceeds some critical value. Possible implications of this effect are discussed in relation to the biophysics of nucleic acids.
authors.affiliation: Herrin Laboratories, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5020, USA.
authors.forename: Boris P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Belotserkovskii
mesh_terms: D008968:Molecular Conformation; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D019415:Torque
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers