Trains, tails and loops of partially adsorbedsemi-flexible filaments

Welch; Lettinga, M. P.; Ripoll, Marisol; Vliegenthart, Gerrit; Dogic, Z.

doi:10.1039/C5SM01457C

Journal Article

FZJ-2015-06415

Trains, tails and loops of partially adsorbedsemi-flexible filaments

Welch ; Lettinga, M. P.FZJ* ; Ripoll, M.FZJ* ; Vliegenthart, G. (Corresponding author)FZJ* ; Dogic, Z. (Corresponding author)

2015
Royal Soc. of Chemistry London

Soft matter 11(38), 7507 - 7514 (2015) [10.1039/C5SM01457C]

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Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/22848 doi:10.1039/C5SM01457C

Abstract: Polymer adsorption is a fundamental problem in statistical mechanics that has direct relevance to diversedisciplines ranging from biological lubrication to stability of colloidal suspensions. We combine experimentswith computer simulations to investigate depletion induced adsorption of semi-flexible polymers onto ahard-wall. Three dimensional filament configurations of partially adsorbed F-actin polymers are visualizedwith total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy. This information is used to determine the location ofthe adsorption/desorption transition and extract the statistics of trains, tails and loops of partially adsorbedfilament configurations. In contrast to long flexible filaments which primarily desorb by the formation ofloops, the desorption of stiff, finite-sized filaments is largely driven by fluctuating filament tails. Simulationsquantitatively reproduce our experimental data and allow us to extract universal laws that explain scalingof the adsorption–desorption transition with relevant microscopic parameters. Our results demonstratehow the adhesion strength, filament stiffness, length, as well as the configurational space accessible tothe desorbed filament can be used to design the characteristics of filament adsorption and thus engineerproperties of composite biopolymeric materials.

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