Characterization of single semiflexible filaments under geometric constraints

Abstract

Confinement effects on single semiflexible macromolecules are of central importance for a fundamental understanding of cellular processes involving biomacromolecules. To analyze the influence of confinement on the fluctuations of semiflexible macromolecules we study individual actin filaments in straight and curved microchannels. We experimentally characterize the segment distributions for fluctuating semiflexible filaments in microchannels as a function of the channel width. Moreover, the effect of channel curvature on the filament fluctuations is investigated. We find quantitative agreement between experimental results, Monte Carlo simulations, and the analytical description. This allows for determination of the persistence length of actin filaments, the deflection length, which characterizes the confinement effects, and the scaling exponents for the segment distribution of semiflexible macromolecules.