Magnetophoresis of Tagged Polymers

TL;DR

This paper investigates the movement of tagged polymers under magnetic or electric forces using a modified Rubinstein-Duke model, revealing that tagged magnetophoresis avoids band collapse, unlike traditional electrophoresis.

Contribution

It introduces a modified model for polymer electrophoresis that accounts for tagged magnetophoresis and analyzes its behavior with exact and Monte Carlo methods.

Findings

Tagged magnetophoresis does not exhibit band collapse.

The modified model accurately predicts drift velocities.

Traditional electrophoresis limitations are addressed by the new approach.

Abstract

We present quantitative results for the drift velocity of a polymer in a gel if a force (e.g. through an electric or magnetic field) acts on a tag, attached to one of its ends. This is done by introducing a modification of the Rubinstein-Duke model for electrophoresis of DNA. We analyze this modified model with exact and Monte Carlo calculations. Tagged magnetophoresis does not show band collapse, a phenomenon that limits the applicability of traditional electrophoresis to short polymers.