Passage times for unbiased polymer translocation through a narrow pore

Phys Rev Lett. 2006 May 26;96(20):208301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.208301. Epub 2006 May 25.

Abstract

We study the translocation process of a polymer in the absence of external fields for various pore diameters b and membrane thickness L. The polymer performs Rouse and reptation dynamics. The mean translocation time (tau(t)) that the polymer needs to escape from a cell and the mean dwell time (tau(d)) that the polymer spends in the pore during the translocation process obey scaling relations in terms of the polymer length N, L, and b/R(g), where R(g) is the radius of gyration for the polymer. We explain these relations using simple arguments based on polymer dynamics and the equilibrium properties of polymers.

MeSH terms

  • Biological Transport
  • Computer Simulation
  • Membranes / chemistry
  • Membranes / metabolism*
  • Models, Biological*
  • Monte Carlo Method
  • Polymers / chemistry
  • Polymers / metabolism*

Substances

  • Polymers