Kinetics of the helix-coil transition

Details Kinetics of the helix-coil transition Kinetics of the helix-coil transition

2009-05-27

arxiv.org/abs/0905.4429v1

Physics

Condensed Matter

Soft Condensed Matter

6 pages, 8 figures

Scientific paper

Based on the Zimm-Bragg model we study cooperative helix-coil transition driven by a finite-speed change of temperature. There is an asymmetry between the coil-to-helix and helix-to-coil transition: the latter is displayed already for finite speeds, and takes shorter time than the former. This hysteresis effect has been observed experimentally, and it is explained here via quantifying system's stability in the vicinity of the critical temperature. A finite-speed cooling induces a non-equilibrium helical phase with the correlation length larger than in equilibrium. In this phase the characteristic length of the coiled domain and the non-equilibrium specific heat can display an anomalous response to temperature changes. Several pertinent experimental results on the kinetics helical biopolymers are discussed in detail.

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