Conformation and dynamics of partially active linear polymers

• Published in: Soft matter Vol. 2; no. 8; pp. 1892 - 194
• Main Authors: Vatin, Marin, Kundu, Sumanta, Locatelli, Emanuele
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 21.02.2024
• Subjects: Bacteria; Conformation; Diffusion coefficient; Filamentous bacteria; Mathematical models; Polymers
• ISSN: 1744-683X; 1744-6848; 1744-6848
• DOI: 10.1039/d3sm01162c

We perform numerical simulations of isolated, partially active polymers, driven out-of-equilibrium by a fraction of their monomers. We show that, if the active beads are all gathered in a contiguous block, the position of the section along the chain determines the conformational and dynamical properties of the system. Notably, one can modulate the diffusion coefficient of the polymer from active-like to passive-like just by changing the position of the active block. Further, we show that a slight modification of the self-propulsion rule may give rise to an enhancement of diffusion under certain conditions, despite a decrease of the overall polymer activity. Our findings may help in the modelisation of active biophysical systems, such as filamentous bacteria or worms. We study isolated, partially active polymers, i.e. a fraction of the monomers are subject to tangential propulsion. We show that, if the active monomers are contiguous, their position along the chain sets the conformation and dynamics of the polymer.