Polymer translocation through a pore in membrane
P.J. Park and W. Sung
Department of Physics, Pohang University of Science and
Technology,
Pohang 790-784, Korea
The transport of proteins and RNAs across a biomembrane and their associated conformations represent important issues in cell biology and biotechnology. We construct a new statistical physical model of flexible polymer translocation through pore in membrane treated as the diffusion process across a free energy barrier. We determine the translocation time in terms of chain flexibility yielding an entropic barrier as well as in terms of the driving mechanisms such as transmembrane chemical potential difference and Brownian ratchets(BRs). It turns out that, while BRs suppress the chain flexibility, the chemical potential differences produce pronounced effects on translocation due to the long-chain nature of the polymer.