Simulation of Polymer Translocation through Protein Channels
Abstract
A modeling algorithm is presented to compute simultaneously polymer conformations and ionic current, as single polymer molecules undergo translocation through protein channels. The method is based on a combination of Langevin dynamics for coarse-grained models of polymers and the Poisson-Nernst-Planck formalism for ionic current. For the illustrative example of ssDNA passing through the alpha-hemolysin, vivid details of conformational fluctuations of the polymer inside the vestibule and beta-barrel compartments of the protein pore, and their consequent effects on the translocation time and extent of blocked ionic current are presented. In addition to shedding insights into several experimentally reported puzzles, our simulations offer experimental strategies to sequence polymers more efficiently.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 08, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA437798
Entities
People
- C. Y. Kong
- Murugappan Muthukumar
Organizations
- University of Massachusetts Amherst