Numerical and theoretical study on the mechanism of biopolymer translocation process through a nano-pore

Suresh Alapati, Dolfred Vijay Fernandes, Yong Kweon Suh

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We conducted a numerical study on the translocation of a biopolymer from the cis side to the trans side of a membrane through a synthetic nano-pore driven by an external electric field in the presence of hydrodynamic interactions (HIs). The motion of the polymer is simulated by 3D Langevin dynamics technique using a worm-like chain model of N identical beads, while HI between the polymer and fluid are incorporated by the lattice Boltzmann equation. The translocation process is induced by electrophoretic force, which sequentially straightens out the folds of the initial random configuration of the polymer chain on the cis side. Our simulation results on translocation time and velocity are in good quantitative agreement with the corresponding experimental ones when the surface charge on the nano-pore and the HI effect are considered explicitly. We found that the translocation velocity of each bead inside the nano-pore mainly depends upon the length of the straightened portion of the polymer in forced motion near the pore. We confirmed this by a theoretical formula. After performing simulations with different pore lengths, we observed that translocation velocity mainly depends upon the applied potential difference rather than upon the electric field inside the nano-pore.

Original languageEnglish
Article number055103
JournalJournal of Chemical Physics
Volume135
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 07-08-2011

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Physics and Astronomy(all)
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

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