Crowding induced switching of polymer translocation by the amalgamation of entropy and osmotic pressure

Abstract

The translocation of polymers is omnipresent in inherently crowded biological systems. We investigate the dynamics of polymer translocation through a pore in free and crowded environments using Langevin dynamics simulation. We observed a location-dependent translocation rate of monomers showcasing counterintuitive behavior in stark contrast to the bead velocity along the polymer backbone. The free energy calculation of asymmetrically placed polymers indicates a critical number of segments to direct receiver-side translocation. For one-sided crowding, we have identified a critical crowding size revealing a nonzero probability of translocation toward the crowded-side. Moreover, we have observed that shifting the polymer toward the crowded-side compensates for one-sided crowding, yielding an equal probability akin to a crowder-free system. In two-sided crowding, a slight variation in crowder size and packing fraction induces a polymer to switch its translocation direction. These conspicuous yet counter-intuitive phenomena are rationalized by minimalistic theoretical arguments based on osmotic pressure and radial entropic forces.