We study the elastic properties of single heteropolymers. By means of exact enumeration of conformations, Monte Carlo (MC) simulation, and variational principles, we calculate equilibrium force-extension curves of heterocopolymers for specific arrangements of the monomer types along the sequence. At a given extension , the time averaged measured force is the weighted sum of restoring forces for various configurations. Using variational principles, we calculate force-extension curves of heteropolymers with fixed extensions . These results are compared with curves obtained from MC simulations and exact enumeration of all conformations. Typical random sequences manifest several piecewise unfoldings of blocks of various size, which are overlapping due to thermal fluctuations. The shape of the elastic response of a heteropolymer reflects the disorder in the primary block structure and the binding energies of these blocks.
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15 March 2005
Research Article|
March 23 2005
Stretching a heteropolymer
Elena Jarkova;
Elena Jarkova
Institut Charles Sadron
, 67083 Strasbourg Cedex, France
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Thijs J. H. Vlugt;
Thijs J. H. Vlugt
Condensed Matter and Interfaces, Debye Institute,
Utrecht University
, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Nam-Kyung Lee
Nam-Kyung Lee
a)
Department of Physics, Institute of Fundamental Physics,
Sejong University
, Seoul 143-747, South Korea
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a)
Electronic mail: lee@sejong.ac.kr
J. Chem. Phys. 122, 114904 (2005)
Article history
Received:
November 16 2004
Accepted:
January 26 2005
Citation
Elena Jarkova, Thijs J. H. Vlugt, Nam-Kyung Lee; Stretching a heteropolymer. J. Chem. Phys. 15 March 2005; 122 (11): 114904. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1874853
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