Depletion effects and loop formation in self-avoiding polymers.

Journal article

Langevin dynamics is employed to study the looping kinetics of self-avoiding polymers both in ideal and crowded solutions. A rich kinetics results from the competition of two crowding-induced effects: the depletion attraction and the enhanced viscous friction. For short chains, the enhanced friction slows down looping, while for longer chains, the depletion attraction renders it more frequent and persistent. We discuss the possible relevance of the findings for chromatin looping in living cells.

Authors: Toan, N; Marenduzzo, D; Cook, P; Micheletti, C

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Volume: 97
• Issue: 17
• Pages: 178302
• Publication date: 2006-10-01
• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.97.178302
• EISSN: 1079-7114
• ISSN: 0031-9007
• Language: English
• Keywords: Kinetics; Polymers; Thermodynamics; Stereoisomerism; Models, Molecular; Chromatin; Molecular Conformation; DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; Models, Chemical; DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase; DNA