Effects of hydrodynamic interactions on a coil-globule transition of a single polymer(Poster session 2, New Frontiers in Colloidal Physics : A Bridge between Micro- and Macroscopic Concepts in Soft Matter)

Abstract

ソフトマターは,系の内部に溶媒を含んでいるため,流体を介した相互作用がそのダイナミクスに大きく影響している.本研究では,この流体力学的相互作用を取り入れたシミュレーション手法を用いて,流体が高分子鎖のコイル-グロビュール転移において果たす役割について明らかにすることを目的とする.我々は,様々な慣性半径を持つ初期配置からの凝縮ダイナミクスを扱った.その結果,高分子鎖の初期配置によって流体は,大きく分けて2つの働きをすることがわかった.

A polymer immersed in a solvent begins to collapse from an expanded to a compact globule state, when the solvent quality changes from good to poor. This phenomenon is known as a coil-globule transition. The static property of this transition has been well understood theoretically and experimentally. Because of experimental difficulties, however, its dynamics is less understood. Since a coil-globule transition is regarded as a model of a protein folding, the understanding of the transition is also highly desired from the viewpoint of biophysics.