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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 11: Posters: Single-Molecule Biophysics
BP 11.12: Poster
Monday, March 14, 2011, 17:15–20:00, P3
Hydrodynamic interaction destabilizes soft bonds. — Suman Das1, Dimitri Pescia1, Mithun Biswas1, and •Anirban Sain1,2 — 1Physics Department, IIT Bombay. Powai, Mumbai 400076, India. — 2MPI-PKS, Nothnitzer Str. 38, 01187, Dresden.
Weak bonds are ubiquitous in biological structures. They often act as adhesive contacts within an extended structure, for example, the internal bonds in a folded protein or a DNA/RNA loop. They also act as linkers between two structures, for example, a protein grafted in a cell membrane or a protein linking the cell membranes of two neighboring cells. Typically, the breakage of a bond depends on the strength of the binding potential and viscosity of the medium. But when extended structures couple to the bond, as in the above examples, the dynamics of the structure also has to be considered in order to understand the bond breakage phenomenon. Here we consider a generic model, a stretched polymer an extended structure tethered to a soft bond and study how the dynamics of the polymer, in addition to thermal noise, influences bond breakage. We also explore how the hydrodynamic interaction due to the fluid, which couples the distant parts of the polymer, change the bond breakage rate. We find that breakage rate is enhanced and also the motion becomes more coherent.