Simplifying topological entanglements by entropic competition of slip-links

Simplifying topological entanglements by entropic competition of slip-links

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Topological entanglements are abundant, and often detrimental, in polymeric systems in biology and materials science.Here we theoretically investigate the topological simplification of knots by diffusing slip-links (SLs), which may car mackwell represent biological or synthetic molecules, such as structural maintenance of chromosome proteins or cyclodextrins in slide-ring gels.We find that SLs entropically compete with knots and can localize them, greatly facilitating their downstream simplification by transient strand-crossing.

We further show that the efficiency of knot localization caroline gardner cards sale depends strongly on the topology of the SL network, and, informed by our findings, we discuss potential strategies to control the topology of biological and synthetic materials.