Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 11: Posters: Statistical Physics in Biological Systems (joint with DY)

BP 11.9: Poster

Monday, March 11, 2013, 17:30–19:30, Poster B2

Nematic microstructure in biopolymer solutions — •Marc Lämmel and Klaus Kroy — Institut für Theoretische Physik, Leipzig, Germany

Domains of aligned filaments play an important role in solutions of semiflexible biopolymers. For instance, they occur as a consequence of shear induced ordering upon sample preparation or as a precursor of bundle formation. Here, we address the influence of such nematic order on the packing structure of semiflexible polymer networks, based on the wormlike chain model. The complicated many-body problem is approached utilizing the concept of the tube [1], which accounts for caging of a test filament by surrounding filaments. It is represented through a cylindrical confinement potential that is self-consistently determined. In particular, we analyze the effect of local nematic order on the micro-structure in terms of the tube radius distribution [2], which can experimentally be measured with high accuracy for F-actin solutions [3], allowing for a precise quantitative comparison of theory and experiment.

1. [1] Morse, D. C., Phys. Rev. E 63, 031502 (2001)
2. [2] Glaser, J. et al., Phys. Rev. E 84, 051801 (2011)
3. [3] Glaser, J. et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 037801 (2010)