Journal article
Entropic flows, crowding effects, and stability of asymmetric proteins
Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics, v 80(1), pp 011404-011404
01 Jul 2009
PMID: 19658706
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
The study of the excluded-volume effects on protein stability and reactions or the stability of colloidal suspensions is an active area of research. Using hard-disk collisional dynamics we investigate whether the presence of a crowding agent can induce a shape change from a nonspherical molecule to a spherical one. We show the averaged density profiles and velocity field of hard-disk crowders with an interior noncircular convex shape as a boundary condition. The density profile is not axially symmetric, consistent with other hardpotential experiments with asymmetry. However, more interestingly, the averaged velocity field was found to have a nonzero curl, implying a region of vorticity without a thermal gradient, advective field, or other motivating potential. To explain the occurrence of the vortices, a theoretical model is provided based on angular momentum of hard disks at contact. All these results, as well as difference in pressure along the axes, support the fact that as the packing fraction of the crowder rises, increasing force is exerted on an asymmetric molecule toward a symmetric one.
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Details
- Title
- Entropic flows, crowding effects, and stability of asymmetric proteins
- Creators
- Travis Hoppe - Drexel UniversityJian-Min Yuan - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics, v 80(1), pp 011404-011404
- Publisher
- Amer Physical Soc
- Number of pages
- 6
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Physics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000268616300072
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-68949111731
- Other Identifier
- 991019168530404721
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
- Physics, Mathematical