2009/01/15 by Richard Matthews, R Matthews, A. A. Louis +3 · 3 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · Environmental Science · Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · #Bacteriophages and microbial interactions #Nanopore and Nanochannel Transport Studies #Parvovirus B19 Infection Studies #cond-mat.soft #q-bio.BM
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.102.088101
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 102 (2009) 088101 · 4 pages, 5 figures
arxiv created 2009/01/15 · openalex publication_date 2009/02/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present a numerical study of the effect of knotting on the ejection of flexible and semiflexible polymers from a spherical, viruslike capsid. The polymer ejection rate is primarily controlled by the knot, which moves to the hole in the capsid and then acts as a ratchet. Polymers with more complex knots eject more slowly and, for large knots, the knot type, and not the flexibility of the polymer, determines the rate of ejection. We discuss the relation of our results to the ejection of DNA from viral capsids and conjecture that this process has the biological advantage of unknotting the DNA before it enters a cell.