Driven translocation of a polymer: role of pore friction and crowding

Abstract

Force-driven translocation of a macromolecule through a nanopore is investigated by taking into account the monomer-pore friction as well as the "crowding" of monomers on the {\it trans} - side of the membrane which counterbalance the driving force acting in the pore. The set of governing differential-algebraic equations for the translocation dynamics is derived and solved numerically. The analysis of this solution shows that the crowding of monomers on the trans side hardly affects the dynamics, but the monomer-pore friction can substantially slow down the translocation process. Moreover, the translocation exponent $\alpha$ in the translocation time - vs. - chain length scaling law, $\tau \propto N^{\alpha}$, becomes smaller when monomer-pore friction coefficient increases. This is most noticeable for relatively strong forces. Our findings may explain the variety of $\alpha$ values which were found in experiments and computer simulations.