Tug-of-War in a Double-Nanopore System


Abstract in English

We simulate a tug-of-war (TOW) scenario for a model double-stranded DNA threading through a double nanopore (DNP) system. The DNA, simultaneously captured at both pores is subject to two equal and opposite forces $-vec{f}_L= vec{f}_R$ (TOW), where $vec{f}_L$ and $vec{f}_R$ are the forces applied to the left and the right pore respectively. Even though the net force on the DNA polymer $Delta vec{f}_{LR}=vec{f}_L+ vec{f}_R=0$, the mean first passage time (MFPT) $langle tau rangle$ depends on the magnitude of the TOW forces $ left | f_L right | = left |f_R right | = f_{LR}$. We qualitatively explain this dependence of $langle tau rangle$ on $f_{LR}$ from the known results for the single-pore translocation of a triblock copolymer. We demonstrate that the time of flight (TOF) of a monomer with index $m$ ($langle tau_{LR}(m) rangle$) from one pore to the other exhibits quasi-periodic structure commensurate with the distance between the pores $d_{LR}$. Finally, we study the case $Delta vec{f}_{LR}=vec{f}_L+ vec{f}_R e 0$, and qualitatively reproduce the experimental result of the dependence of the MFPT on $Deltavec{f}_{LR}$. For a moderate bias, the MFPT for the DNP system for a chain length $N$ follows the same scaling ansatz as that of for the single nanopore, $langle tau rangle = left( AN^{1+ u} + eta_{pore}N right) left(Delta f_{LR}right)^{-1}$, where $eta_{pore}$ is the pore friction, which enables us to estimate $langle tau rangle $ for a long chain. Our Brownian dynamics simulation studies provide fundamental insights and valuable information about the details of the translocation speed obtained from $langle tau_{LR}(m) rangle$, and accuracy of the translation of the data obtained in the time-domain to units of genomic distances.

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