arXiv subjects

K. E. Polovnikov

Publications and source records attributed to K. E. Polovnikov.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Universal Loop Statistics from Active Extrusion with Kinetic Barriers

We develop a kinetic theory of cohesin-driven loop extrusion on a disordered chromatin track with transient barriers. In the stationary state, the mean loop size is shown to obey a universal law determined by the bare processivity and a renormalized obstacle density. Beyond the mean, one-sided extrusion always yields a single-exponential loop-length distribution, whereas two-sided extrusion produces a finite sum of exponential modes and, generically, a peaked distribution. Experimental CTCF-anchored loop statistics exhibit such a peak, thereby providing a direct discriminator of extrusion symmetry. The theory therefore establishes a unified framework for disorder-limited loop extrusion and supports a scenario in which both cohesin arms actively operate in living cells.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2021

Fractional Brownian motion meets topology: statistical and topological properties of globular macromolecules with volume interactions

In the paper we investigate statistical and topological properties of fractional Brownian polymer chains, equipped with the short-range volume interactions. The attention is paid to statistical properties of collapsed conformations with the fractal dimension $D_f\ge 2$ in the three-dimensional space, which are analyzed both numerically and \textit{via} the mean-field Flory approach. Our study is motivated by an attempt to mimic the conformational statistics of collapsed unknotted polymer rings, which are known to form compact hierarchical crumpled globules (CG) with $D_f=3$ at large scales. Replacing the topologically-stabilized CG state by a self-avoiding fractal path adjusted to the fractal dimension $D_f=3$ we tremendously simplify the problem of generating compact self-avoiding conformations since we wash out the topological constraints from the consideration. We make use of the Monte-Carlo simulations to prepare the equilibrium ensemble of swollen chains with various fractal dimensions. A combination of the Flory arguments with statistical analysis of the conformations from simulations allows one to infer the dependence of the critical exponent of the swollen chains on the fractal dimension of the seed chain. We show that with the increase of $D_f$, typical conformations become more territorial and less knotted. Distributions of the knot complexity, $P(χ)$ for various fractal dimensions of the swollen chains suggest a close relationship between statistical and topological properties of fractal paths with volume interactions.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2019

Statistical Properties of a Polymer Globule Formed during Collapse with the Irreversible Coalescence of Units

Collapse of the polymer chain upon the sharp decrease of solvent quality is studied. During collapse, any pair of polymer units appearing in a sufficiently close vicinity in space has the possibility with a certain probability to form an irreversible crosslink, thereby preventing the interpenetration of chain material between the forming clusters. Globular structures having different spatial chain packing at various scales are obtained by computer simulations. It is shown that the dependence of probability of contact between two monomers in space , where s is a distance between monomers along chain, reproduces a number of characteristic features observed previously in experiments on the analysis of three-dimensional chromatin packing. The cluster analysis of intramolecular contact maps makes it possible to express the hypothesis that there are characteristic discrete hierarchical levels in polymer packing associated with the number-theoretic origin of rare-event statistics and inherent to individual maps of intra- and interchromosomal contacts.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2019

Many-body contacts in fractal polymer chains and fBm trajectories

We calculate the probabilities that a trajectory of a fractional Brownian motion with arbitrary fractal dimension $d_f$ visits the same spot $n \ge 3$ times, at given moments $t_1, ..., t_n$, and obtain a determinant expression for these probabilities in terms of a displacement-displacement covariance matrix. Except for the standard Brownian trajectories with $d_f = 2$, the resulting many-body contact probabilities cannot be factorized into a product of single loop contributions. Within a Gaussian network model of a self-interacting polymer chain, which we suggested recently, the probabilities we calculate here can be interpreted as probabilities of multi-body contacts in a fractal polymer conformation with the same fractal dimension $d_f$. This Gaussian approach, which implies a mapping from fractional Brownian motion trajectories to polymer conformations, can be used as a semiquantitative model of polymer chains in topologically-stabilized conformations, e.g., in melts of unconcatenated rings or in the chromatin fiber, which is the material medium containing genetic information. The model presented here can be used, therefore, as a benchmark for interpretation of the data of many-body contacts in genomes, which we expect to be available soon in, e.g., Hi-C experiments.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2017

Folding and cytoplasm viscoelasticity contribute jointly to chromosome dynamics

The chromosome is a key player of cell physiology, and its dynamics provides valuable information about its physical organization. In both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, the short-time motion of chromosomal loci has been described as a Rouse model in a simple or viscoelastic medium. However, little emphasis has been put on the role played by the folded organization of chromosomes on the local dynamics. Clearly, stress-propagation, and thus dynamics, must be affected by such organization, but a theory allowing to extract such information from data, e.g.\ of two-point correlations, is lacking. Here, we describe a theoretical framework able to answer this general polymer dynamics question, and we provide a general scaling analysis of the stress-propagation time between two loci at a given arclength distance along the chromosomal coordinate. The results suggest a precise way to detect folding information from the dynamical coupling of chromosome segments. Additionally, we realize this framework in a specific theoretical model of a polymer with variable-range interactions in a viscoelastic medium characterized by a tunable scaling exponent, where we derive analytical estimates of the correlation functions.

physics.bio-ph↗