Abstract
Confinement effects on single semiflexible macromolecules are of central importance for a fundamental understanding of cellular processes involving biomacromolecules. To analyze the influence of confinement on the fluctuations of semiflexible macromolecules we study individual actin filaments in straight and curved microchannels. We experimentally characterize the segment distributions for fluctuating semiflexible filaments in microchannels as a function of the channel width. Moreover, the effect of channel curvature on the filament fluctuations is investigated. We find quantitative agreement between experimental results, Monte Carlo simulations, and the analytical description. This allows for determination of the persistence length of actin filaments, the deflection length, which characterizes the confinement effects, and the scaling exponents for the segment distribution of semiflexible macromolecules.
Highlights
In bottom-up approaches to cell mechanics [1,2,3] as well as in top-down approaches to nanotechnology for bioanalysis [4,5], confinement effects on semiflexible macromolecules play a considerable role
This allows for determination of the persistence length of actin filaments, the deflection length, which characterizes the confinement effects, and the scaling exponents for the segment distribution of semiflexible macromolecules
In this work we study the Brownian dynamics and mechanical properties of actin filaments, which are confined in microchannels of different geometries
Summary
In bottom-up approaches to cell mechanics [1,2,3] as well as in top-down approaches to nanotechnology for bioanalysis [4,5], confinement effects on semiflexible macromolecules play a considerable role. The overall goal is to elucidate the mechanical and dynamic properties of these in vitro model systems and to exploit the results to obtain a better understanding of cell mechanics [1,6,7] These investigations aim for an understanding of the collective behavior of cellular networks, they are strongly dependent on a profound knowledge about single filament dynamics confined by the surrounding macromolecules [8]. Since in most nanodevices the widths of confining nanochannels d are smaller than the persistence length LP of DNA (LP ∼ 50 nm), the behavior of the DNA can only be described by a model of confined semiflexible macromolecules [17]. By combining experimental, modeling, and analytical approaches, we provide a complete analysis of semiflexible filament behavior under geometric constraints on the single molecule level
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