2015
DOI: 10.1063/1.4935393
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Unfolding of globular polymers by external force

Abstract: We examine the problem of a polymer chain, folded into a globule in poor solvent, subjected to a constant tensile force. Such a situation represents a Gibbs thermodynamic ensemble and is useful for analysing force-clamp atomic force microscopy measurements, now very common in molecular biophysics. Using a basic Flory mean-field theory, we account for surface interactions of monomers with solvent. Under an increasing tensile force, a first-order phase transition occurs from a compact globule to a fully extended… Show more

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Cited by 6 publications
(10 citation statements)
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“…The folding and unfolding processes have been well studied in the case of a polymer chain in poor solvent and subjected to a tensile force [29][30][31][32]. The phenomenon of hysteresis has also been observed, but the mechanism is due to the nucleation barrier between the globule and stretch states [29,30], different from the "sticky"-particleinduced dynamic barrier in our system. Such hysteresis is not as definite as in our system, i.e.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 77%
“…The folding and unfolding processes have been well studied in the case of a polymer chain in poor solvent and subjected to a tensile force [29][30][31][32]. The phenomenon of hysteresis has also been observed, but the mechanism is due to the nucleation barrier between the globule and stretch states [29,30], different from the "sticky"-particleinduced dynamic barrier in our system. Such hysteresis is not as definite as in our system, i.e.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 77%
“…where A(x) is the surface area of the deformed globule, and b is the monomer size. Following an earlier work 11 , for efficient analytical treatment we take the shape of the globule to be a spherocylinder (see Fig. 1), with a constant volume N g b 3 .…”
Section: Polymer Modelmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In force-clamp experiments, biomolecules typically show all-or-nothing transitions between folded and unfolded states 7,8 , meaning that denaturation occurs abruptly and completely once a critical force is reached in the case of force-ramp, or a characteristic time is reached if a constant force is applied. The transition from stable to metastable configurations with increasing applied force has been treated theoretically, and indeed found to be first order [9][10][11] .…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 98%
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“…There have been a number of numerical and analytical studies on stretching globular homopolymers under a controlled constant force or a constant unwinding velocity. [28][29][30][31][32][33] However, they all lack information on how the internal organization and structure of the polymer changes during folding to the final compact globular state. Here, we provide the first circuit topological mapping of a folding process and search for the determinants of fold topology during the folding process and of the final ''native'' structure.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%