Polymer release out of a spherical vesicle through a pore

Abstract

Translocation of a polymer out of a curved surface or membrane is studied via the mean first passage time approach. Membrane curvature gives rise to a constraint on polymer conformation, which effectively drives the polymer to the outside of confinement, where the available volume of the polymer conformational fluctuation is larger. Considering a polymer release out of a spherical vesicle, the polymer translocation time $\tau$ is changed to the scaling behavior $\tau \sim L^2$ for $R<\mathrm{}{R}_G,$ from $\tau \sim L^3$ for $R\gg R_G,$ where $L$ is the polymer contour length, and $R$ and $R_G$ are the vesicle radius and polymer radius of gyration, respectively. Also, the polymer capture into a spherical bud is studied, and a possible apparatus for easy capture is suggested.