Kick effect of enzymes causes filament compression

DJ Mao and CR Qin and WD Tian, JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-CONDENSED MATTER, 34, 284003 (2022).

DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/ac6b09

We investigate the influence of enzymes on the structure and dynamics of a filament by dissipative particle dynamics simulations. Enzyme exerts a kick force on the filament monomer. We pay particular attention to two factors: the magnitude of kick force and enzyme concentration. Large kick force as well as high enzyme concentration prefers a remarkable compression of the filament reminiscent of the effective depletion interaction owing to an effective increase in enzyme size and the reduction of solvent quality. Additionally, the kick effect gives rise to an increase of enzyme density from the center-of-mass of the filament to its periphery. Moreover, the increase of enzyme concentration and kick force also causes a decrease in relaxation time. Our finding is helpful to understand the role of catalytic force in chemo-mechano- biological function and the filament behavior under chemical reaction via kick-induced change of solvent quality.

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