Polymer translocation through pores with complex geometries

TL;DR

This paper introduces a theoretical method to analyze polymer translocation through complex, composite pore geometries, accounting for reverse motions and providing insights into translocation times in structures like the $ ext{α}$-hemolysin channel.

Contribution

A novel theoretical framework for polymer translocation through arbitrary composite pores, including reverse chain motions at interfaces, which were neglected in previous models.

Findings

Reverse chain motions significantly affect translocation time.

Translocation is faster when the chain enters from the wider side.

The method applies to complex pore geometries like $ ext{α}$-hemolysin.

Abstract

We propose a method for the theoretical investigation of polymer translocation through composite pore structures possessing arbitrarily specified geometries. Translocation through each constituent part of the composite is treated as being analogous to the diffusion of the translocation coordinate over the free energy landscape derived from the chain configurations within the pore. The proposed method accounts for possible reverse motions of the leading chain end at the interface between constituent parts of a composite pore, a possibility that has been neglected in prior studies. As an illustration of our method, we study the translocation of a Gaussian chain between two spherical compartments connected by a cylindrical pore, and by a composite pore consisting of two connected cylinders of different diameters, which is structurally similar to the $\alpha$-hemolysin membrane channel. We demonstrate that reverse chain motions between the pore constituents may contribute significantly to the total translocation time. Our results further establish that translocation through a two-cylinder composite pore is faster when the chain is introduced into the pore on the cis (wide) side of the channel rather than the trans (narrow) side.