298 research outputs found
Equilibrium clusters in suspensions of colloids interacting via potentials with a local minimum
In simple colloidal suspensions, clusters are various multimers that result
from colloid self-association and exist in equilibrium with monomers.There are
two types of potentials that are known to produce clusters: a) potentials that
result from the competition between short-range attraction and long-range
repulsion and are characterized by a global minimum and a repulsive tail and b)
purely repulsive potentials which have a soft shoulder. Using computer
simulations, we demonstrate in this work that potentials with a local minimum
and a repulsive tail, not belonging to either of the known types, are also
capable of generating clusters. A detailed comparative analysis shows that the
new type of cluster-forming potential serves as a bridge between the other two.
The new clusters are expanded in shape and their assembly is driven by entropy,
like in the purely repulsive systems but only at low density. At high density,
clusters are collapsed and stabilized by energy, in common with the systems
with competing attractive and repulsive interactions.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
Viscoelastic model for the dynamic structure of binary systems
This paper presents the viscoelastic model for the Ashcroft-Langreth dynamic
structure factors of liquid binary mixtures. We also provide expressions for
the Bhatia-Thornton dynamic structure factors and, within these expressions,
show how the model reproduces both the dynamic and the self-dynamic structure
factors corresponding to a one-component system in the appropriate limits
(pseudobinary system or zero concentration of one component). In particular we
analyze the behavior of the concentration-concentration dynamic structure
factor and longitudinal current, and their corresponding counterparts in the
one-component limit, namely, the self dynamic structure factor and self
longitudinal current. The results for several lithium alloys with different
ordering tendencies are compared with computer simulations data, leading to a
good qualitative agreement, and showing the natural appearance in the model of
the fast sound phenomenon.Comment: 20 pages, 19 figures, submitted to PR
Bridge function for liquid Na
Bridge function B(r) for liquid Na is calculated in the referense hypernetted chain approximation from the pair distribution function obtained by
means of MD simulations. A comparison with the bridge function obtained
in a Mori-Hoshino-Watabe scheme is made. The influence of the cut-off
radius and the MD sample size on the structure factor is investigated.Елементарні діаграми B(r) для рідкого Na розраховані в базисному
гіперланцюговому наближенні з парних функцій розподілу отриманих
методом МД. Проведено порівняння з B(r) в наближенні Морі-Хошіно-Ватабе. Досліджено залежність статичного структурного фактора
від радіуса обрізання базисної парної функції розподілу
Finite-size dependence of the bridge function extracted from molecular dynamics simulations
金沢大学理学部The bridge function for liquid sodium at T5373 K is obtained by using the mean spherical approximation to extrapolate the pair distribution function ~PDF!, calculated in molecular dynamics ~MD! simulations, beyond the half simulation box length for two sizes of the MD system. The bridge function is found to strongly depend on the total number of particles used in the simulation cell. This dependency leads to a spurious maximum of the static structure factor at long wavelengths, obtained from the reference hypernetted-chain approximation ~RHNC! with the MD system used as a reference system ~RHNC-MD!. A simple self-consistent procedure, proposed to account for the finite-size effects in the bridge function, allows one to efficiently correct the RHNC-MD static structure factor for all unphysical manifestations
Glass transition in an off-lattice protein model studied by molecular dynamics simulations.
金沢大学理学部In this paper we report the results of a numerical investigation of the glass transition phenomenon in a minimalist protein model. The inherent structure theory of Stillinger and Weber was applied to an off-lattice protein model with a native state b-sheet motif. By using molecular dynamics simulations and the steepest descent method, sets of local potential energy minima were generated for the model over a range of temperatures. The mean potential energy of the inherent structures allowed to make rough estimates of the glasstransition temperature TK . More accurately TK was computed by direct evaluations of the total and vibrational entropies. It is found that for the present model the thermodynamic ratio of the folding and glass-transition temperatures is 1.7 which is in good agreement with experimental observations
Potential for modulation of the hydrophobic effect inside chaperonins
Despite the spontaneity of some in vitro protein folding reactions, native
folding in vivo often requires the participation of barrel-shaped multimeric
complexes known as chaperonins. Although it has long been known that chaperonin
substrates fold upon sequestration inside the chaperonin barrel, the precise
mechanism by which confinement within this space facilitates folding remains
unknown. In this study, we examine the possibility that the chaperonin mediates
a favorable reorganization of the solvent for the folding reaction. We begin by
discussing the effect of electrostatic charge on solvent-mediated hydrophobic
forces in an aqueous environment. Based on these initial physical arguments, we
construct a simple, phenomenological theory for the thermodynamics of density
and hydrogen bond order fluctuations in liquid water. Within the framework of
this model, we investigate the effect of confinement within a chaperonin-like
cavity on the configurational free energy of water by calculating solvent free
energies for cavities corresponding to the different conformational states in
the ATP- driven catalytic cycle of the prokaryotic chaperonin GroEL. Our
findings suggest that one function of chaperonins may be to trap unfolded
proteins and subsequently expose them to a micro-environment in which the
hydrophobic effect, a crucial thermodynamic driving force for folding, is
enhanced
Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Semiflexible Polyampholyte Brushes - The Effect of Charged Monomers Sequence
Planar brushes formed by end-grafted semiflexible polyampholyte chains, each
chain containing equal number of positively and negatively charged monomers is
studied using molecular dynamics simulations. Keeping the length of the chains
fixed, dependence of the average brush thickness and equilibrium statistics of
the brush conformations on the grafting density and the salt concentration are
obtained with various sequences of charged monomers. When similarly charged
monomers of the chains are arranged in longer blocks, the average brush
thickness is smaller and dependence of brush properties on the grafting density
and the salt concentration is stronger. With such long blocks of similarly
charged monomers, the anchored chains bond to each other in the vicinity of the
grafting surface at low grafting densities and buckle toward the grafting
surface at high grafting densities.Comment: 8 pages,7 figure
A Condensation-Ordering Mechanism in Nanoparticle-Catalyzed Peptide Aggregation
Nanoparticles introduced in living cells are capable of strongly promoting
the aggregation of peptides and proteins. We use here molecular dynamics
simulations to characterise in detail the process by which nanoparticle
surfaces catalyse the self- assembly of peptides into fibrillar structures. The
simulation of a system of hundreds of peptides over the millisecond timescale
enables us to show that the mechanism of aggregation involves a first phase in
which small structurally disordered oligomers assemble onto the nanoparticle
and a second phase in which they evolve into highly ordered beta-sheets as
their size increases
Finite-size dependence of the bridge function extracted from molecular dynamics simulations
Fibril elongation mechanisms of HET-s prion-forming domain: Topological evidence for growth polarity
The prion-forming C-terminal domain of the fungal prion HET-s forms
infectious amyloid fibrils at physiological pH. The conformational switch from
the non-prion soluble form to the prion fibrillar form is believed to have a
functional role, since HET-s in its prion form participates in a recognition
process of different fungal strains. Based on the knowledge of the
high-resolution structure of HET-s(218-289) (the prion forming-domain) in its
fibrillar form, we here present a numerical simulation of the fibril growth
process which emphasizes the role of the topological properties of the
fibrillar structure. An accurate thermodynamic analysis of the way an
intervening HET-s chain is recruited to the tip of the growing fibril suggests
that elongation proceeds through a dock and lock mechanism. First, the chain
docks onto the fibril by forming the longest -strands. Then, the
re-arrangement in the fibrillar form of all the rest of molecule takes place.
Interestingly, we predict also that one side of the HET-s fibril is more
suitable for substaining its growth with respect to the other. The resulting
strong polarity of fibril growth is a consequence of the complex topology of
HET-s fibrillar structure, since the central loop of the intervening chain
plays a crucially different role in favouring or not the attachment of the
C-terminus tail to the fibril, depending on the growth side.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure
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