corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 97 » Issue 10
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 108102 (2006) [4 pages]

RNA Condensation and the Wetting Transition

Download: PDF (171 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

Toan T. Nguyen1,2,* and Robijn F. Bruinsma1
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California–Los Angeles, 475 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
2Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California–Los Angeles, 607 East Charles Young Drive, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA

Received 17 May 2006; published 8 September 2006

We present a continuum theory for the condensation of large, soluble, single-stranded RNA molecules on attractive substrates. In the mean-field approximation, the theory reduces to the Cahn–de Gennes description of wetting fluids and offers a natural explanation for the development of a sharply defined density profile following a prewetting surface phase transition. This mapping onto the wetting problem can break down because of a capillary instability where the adsorbed film decomposes into a collection of segregated, nonoverlapping molecules.

© 2006 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.108102
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.108102
PACS:
87.15.−v, 87.14.Gg

*Present address: School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, 837 State Street, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.

 
< Previous Article | Next Article >