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arXiv · 2211.07114

Polymer translocation in an environment of active rods

Hamidreza Khalilian·Jalal Sarabadani·Tapio Ala-Nissila
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Abstract

We consider the dynamics of a translocation process of a flexible linear polymer through a nanopore into an environment of active rods in the {\it trans} side. Using Langevin dynamics simulations we find that the rods facilitate translocation to the {\it trans} side even when there are initially more monomers on the {\it cis} than on the {\it trans} side. Structural analysis of the translocating polymer reveals that active rods induce a folded structure to the {\it trans}-side subchain in the case of successful translocation events. By keeping the initial number of monomers on the {\it cis}-side subchain fixed, we map out a state diagram for successful events as a function of the rod number density for a variety of system parameters. This reveals competition between facilitation by the rods at low densities and crowding that hinders translocation at higher densities.

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Hamidreza Khalilian, Jalal Sarabadani, Tapio Ala-Nissila. 2022-11-14. Polymer translocation in an environment of active rods. https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.07114

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