2023-03-14
A universal method for analyzing copolymer growth
Publication
Publication
J. Chem. Phys. , Volume 158 - Issue 10 p. 104906: 1- 23
Polymers consisting of more than one type of monomer, known as copolymers, are vital to both living and synthetic systems. Copolymerization has been studied theoretically in a number of contexts, often by considering a Markov process in which monomers are added or removed from the growing tip of a long copolymer. To date, the analysis of the most general models of this class has necessitated simulation. We present a general method for analyzing such processes without resorting to simulation. Our method can be applied to models with an arbitrary network of sub-steps prior to addition or removal of a monomer, including non-equilibrium kinetic proofreading cycles. Moreover, the approach allows for a dependency of addition and removal reactions on the neighboring site in the copolymer and thermodynamically self-consistent models in which all steps are assumed to be microscopically reversible. Using our approach, thermodynamic quantities such as chemical work; kinetic quantities such as time taken to grow; and statistical quantities such as the distribution of monomer types in the growing copolymer can be directly derived either analytically or numerically from the model definition.
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| doi.org/10.1063/5.0133489 | |
| J. Chem. Phys. | |
| Organisation | Biochemical Networks |
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Qureshi, B., Juritz, J., Poulton, J., Beersing-Vasquez, A., & Ouldridge, T. (2023). A universal method for analyzing copolymer growth. J. Chem. Phys., 158(10), 104906: 1–23. doi:10.1063/5.0133489 |
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