Model for folding and aggregation in RNA secondary structures |
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Authors: | Guttal Vishwesha Bundschuh Ralf |
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Institution: | Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, 191 West Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1117, USA. |
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Abstract: | We study the statistical mechanics of RNA secondary structures designed to have an attraction between two different types of structures as a model system for heteropolymer aggregation. The competition between the branching entropy of the secondary structure and the energy gained by pairing drives the RNA to undergo a "temperature independent" second order phase transition from a molten to an aggregated phase. The aggregated phase thus obtained has a macroscopically large number of contacts between different RNAs. The partition function scaling exponent for this phase is theta approximately 1/2 and the crossover exponent of the phase transition is nu approximately 5/3. The relevance of these calculations to the aggregation of biological molecules is discussed. |
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