Elastically Driven Linker Aggregation between Two Semiflexible Polyelectrolytes

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Abstract
The behavior of mobile linkers connecting two semiflexible charged polymers, such as polyvalent counterions connecting DNA or F-actin chains, is studied theoretically. The chain bending rigidity induces an effective repulsion between linkers at large distances while the interchain electrostatic repulsion leads to an effective short-range interlinker attraction. We find a rounded phase transition from a dilute linker gas where the chains form large loops between linkers to a dense disordered linker fluid connecting parallel chains. The onset of chain pairing occurs within the rounded transition.
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