Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 33: Cytoskeleton (original: BP, joined by CPP)

CPP 33.5: Talk

Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 10:45–11:00, HÜL 386

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

Alignment of polymers is a major mechanism employed by cells to adapt their mechanical strength. Since it is easily induced by steric and energetic interactions, as well as by shear ordering, it is also ubiquitious in biopolymer solutions and gels. 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 polymer by surrounding filaments. As recently elucidated [2], this cage, rather than being homogeneous, features characteristic variations along the polymer contour. In our approach, the tube is represented through of harmonic confinement potential that is self-consistently determined. In particular, we analyze the effect of local nematic order on the microstructure in terms of the mean tube radius and its distribution [3], for which we observe a remarkable agreement between the analytical predictions and results of hybrid Brownian dynamics/Monte Carlo simulations [4].

[1] Morse, Phys. Rev. E 63, 031502 (2001)
[2] Glaser and Kroy, Phys. Rev. E 84, 051801 (2011)
[3] Glaser et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 037801 (2010)
[4] Ramanathana and Morse, J. Chem. Phys. 126, 094906 (2007)