Entangled polymer dynamics beyond reptation.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30504765.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-07546-7 and PMC identifier 6269522.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Macroscopic properties of polymers arise from microscopic entanglement of polymer chains. Entangled polymer dynamics have been described theoretically by time- and space-averaged relaxation modes of single chains occurring at different time and length scales. However, theoretical and experimental studies along this framework provide oversimplified picture of spatiotemporally heterogeneous polymer dynamics. Characterization of entangled polymer dynamics beyond this paradigm requires a method that enables to capture motion and relaxation occurring in real space at different length and time scales. Here we develop new single-molecule characterization platform by combining super-resolution fluorescence imaging and recently developed single-molecule tracking method, cumulative-area tracking, which enables to quantify the chain motion in the length and time scale of nanometres to micrometres and milliseconds to minutes. Using linear and cyclic dsDNA molecules as model systems, our new method reveals chain-position-dependent motion of the entangled linear chains, which is beyond the scope of current theoretical framework.