Chromatin: an active polymer

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A living cell is an active environment where the organization and dynamics of chromatin are affected by different forms of activity. Optical experiments report that loci show subdiffusive dynamics and the chromatin fiber is seen to be coherent over micrometer-scale regions. Using a bead-spring polymer chain with dipolar active forces, we study how the subdiffusive motion of the loci generate large-scale coherent motion of the chromatin. We show that in the presence of extensile (contractile) activity, the dynamics of the loci grows faster (slower) and the spatial correlation length increases (decreases) compared to the case with no dipolar forces. Hence, both the dipolar active forces modify the elasticity of the chain. Interestingly in our model, the dynamics and organization of such dipolar active chains largely differ from the passive chain with renormalized elasticity.

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Relevant Publication(s):

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1. Polymer Chain with Dipolar Active Forces in Connection to Spatial Organization of Chromatin - Subhasish Chaki, Ligesh Theeyancheri and Rajarshi Chakrabarti, Soft Matter 19, 1348 (2023).

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