Regensburg 2004 – scientific programme

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CPP: Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 15: POSTER: Polymers and Biomaterials

CPP 15.35: Poster

Tuesday, March 9, 2004, 17:00–19:00, B

Adsorption of a heteropolymer on a structured surface — •Thorsten Bogner, Friederike Schmid, and Andreas Degenhard — Condensed Matter Theory, Fakutät für Physik, Universität Bielefeld, Postfach 100131, 33501 Bielefeld

The specific adsorption of a molecule, especially of a protein, on a surface is of interest in biological processes as well as for technical applications. The specificity within such molecular recognition processes results from unspecific non-covalent interactions. For proteins in a solvent, the spatial arrangements of the single monomers is determined by the same non-covalent interactions that lead to molecular recognition. As a result, the structure and therefore the physical shape of the protein is affected by the adsorption.

We have calculated the energy spectra of a single heteropolymer for both, the non adsorbed as well as the adsorbed case, considering all possible compact folds. The heterogeneity of the polymer, as well as the structure of the surface was characterised by a sequence or respectively a pattern of hydrophobic and hydrophilic (polar) sites.

Our calculations allowed to identify a preference of a surface pattern and to make a first attempt to define selectivity. We found general features among sequences that are selective for a particular surface pattern. These allow to identify relevant positions on the polymer chain, that decide if a particular surface is recognised. Furthermore, we were able to find sets of sequences that can recognise all surfaces by a process similar to mutations.