A Semiflexible Polymer Translocation Through a Cylindrical Channel

Abstract

In this study, translocation of a semi flexible polymer through a cylindrical channel have been investigated. A two-dimensional Monte Carlo simulation was employed, by utilizing the bond fluctuation method (BFM) to investigate the translocation processes of a chain length N. To surmount the entropic barrier, the middle monomers of the polymer have been positioned at the center of the pore, which is situated between the CIS and TRANS regions. Consequently, the static properties of a semi-flexible polymer by calculating the mean square end-to-end distance ‹R2› and the mean square radius of gyration ‹R<sup>g</sup>2› as functions of the chain length (N) have been examined. The mean square end-to-end distance and the mean square radius of gyration are proportional to the number of monomers N as ‹R2› ~ N1.496 and ‹R2g› ~ N1.505 correspondingly for a short cylindrical channel length L = 2, which aligns with the theoretically predicted. These finding indicates that the relationships between ‹R2› and ‹R<sup>g</sup>2› and the polymer chain size N are strongly influenced by the channel length L. The dynamic properties by analyzing the translocation time of the polymers also studied. Additionally, the relationship between the escape time τ and the polymer chain length N depends on the pore width W, which is equivalent to the diameter of the cylindrical channel. These research demonstrates that the escape time τ decreases as the width increases and escape time τ increases as the chain stiffness increases.