Chirality and Equilibrium Biopolymer Bundles

Abstract

We use continuum theory to show that chirality is a key thermodynamic control parameter for the aggregation of biopolymers: chirality produces a stable disperse phase of hexagonal bundles under moderately poor solvent conditions, as has been observed in {\it in-vitro} studies of F-actin [O. Pelletier {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 91}, 148102 (2003)]. The large characteristic radius of these chiral bundles is not determined by a mysterious long-range molecular interaction but by in-plane shear elastic stresses generated by the interplay between a chiral torque and an unusual, but universal, non-linear gauge term in the strain tensor of ordered chains that is imposed by rotational invariance.