Dresden 2017 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 22: Posters - Biomaterials and Biopolymers
BP 22.9: Poster
Tuesday, March 21, 2017, 14:00–16:00, P1A
Tuning synthetic semiflexible networks by bending stiffness — •Carsten Schuldt1,2, Jörg Schnauß1,2, Tina Händler1,2, Martin Glaser1,2, Jessica Lorenz2, Tom Golde1, Josef A. Käs1, and David M. Smith2 — 1Institute for Experimental Physics I, Leipzig University, Germany — 2Fraunhofer IZI, Leipzig, Germany
The mechanics of complex soft matter such as cells or tightly-entangled biopolymer networks cannot be understood in the classical physical frame of flexible polymers or rigid rods. Instead, the underlying filaments are semiflexible, with their finite bending stiffness leading to non-trivial bulk mechanical responses. A natural model for such polymers is the protein actin. Experimental studies of actin networks, however, are limited since the persistence length cannot be readily tuned.
Here, we experimentally investigated this parameter for the first time through bulk rheological and single-filament measurements of entangled networks formed by structurally tunable DNA nanotubes. This de novo model system enabled the validation of numerous characteristic properties inherent to semiflexible polymers and networks thereof, i.e. persistence length, inextensibility, reptation, and mesh size scaling. The scaling of the elastic plateau modulus with concentration is consistent with previous measurements and established theories. In contrast, we showed that the elastic plateau modulus scales linear with the persistence length, which drastically opposes the predominant theoretical predictions [1].
[1] Schuldt et al.: Tuning synthetic semiflexible networks by bending stiffness, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 197801 (2016)