On the Lubensky-Nelson model of polymer translocation through nanopores

TL;DR

This paper reevaluates the Lubensky-Nelson model for polymer translocation through nanopores, demonstrating its accuracy in predicting translocation time distribution properties such as spread and decay, aligning well with experimental data.

Contribution

The study confirms that the Lubensky-Nelson model accurately captures key features of translocation time distributions, including their width and exponential decay, enhancing its validity.

Findings

Model correctly predicts distribution spread

Model captures exponential decay behavior

Overall theoretical and experimental agreement is very good

Abstract

We revisit the one-dimensional stochastic model of Lubensky and Nelson [Biophys. J 77, 1824 (1999)] for the electrically driven translocation of polynucleotides through alpha-hemolysin pores. We show that the model correctly describes two further important properties of the experimentally observed translocation time distributions, namely their spread (width) and their exponential decay. The resulting overall agreement between theoretical and experimental translocation time distributions is thus very good.