# Active translocation of a semiflexible polymer assisted by an ATP-based molecular motor

## TL;DR

This study models the assisted translocation of a semiflexible polymer through a nanopore driven by an ATP-fueled molecular motor, revealing velocity dependence on chain flexibility and analyzing translocation time scaling.

## Contribution

It introduces a stochastic model of polymer translocation with an active motor that switches states based on ATP binding, incorporating polymer flexibility effects.

## Key findings

- Translocation velocity follows Michaelis-Menten kinetics.
- Polymer flexibility influences translocation speed.
- Mean translocation time scales with polymer length.

## Abstract

In this work we study the assisted translocation of a polymer across a membrane nanopore, inside which a molecular motor exerts a force fuelled by the hydrolysis of ATP molecules. In our model the motor switches to its active state for a fixed amount of time, while it waits for an ATP molecule binding and triggering the impulse, during an exponentially distributed time lapse. The polymer is modelled as a beads-springs chain with both excluded volume and bending contributions, and moves in a stochastic three dimensional environment modelled with a Langevin dynamics at fixed temperature. The resulting dynamics shows a Michaelis-Menten translocation velocity that depends on the chain flexibility. The scaling behavior of the mean translocation time with the polymer length for different bending values is also investigated.