Energy transport in the three coupled α-polypeptide chains of collagen molecule with long-range interactions effect

• Published in: Chaos (Woodbury, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2015-06, Vol.25 (6), p.063115-063115
• Main Authors: Mvogo, Alain, Ben-Bolie, G H, Kofané, T C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acupuncture; Animals; Chains; Collagen; Collagen - chemistry; Computer Simulation; Coupling (molecular); Energy transfer; Excitons; Humans; Initial conditions; Models, Chemical; Nonlinear equations; Polypeptides; Protein Structure, Secondary; Schrodinger equation; Solitary waves; Stability; Transport
• ISSN: 1054-1500; 1089-7682
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4922591

The dynamics of three coupled α-polypeptide chains of a collagen molecule is investigated with the influence of power-law long-range exciton-exciton interactions. The continuum limit of the discrete equations reveal that the collagen dynamics is governed by a set of three coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations, whose dispersive coefficient depends on the LRI parameter r. We construct the analytic symmetric and asymmetric (antisymmetric) soliton solutions, which match with the structural features of collagen related with the acupuncture channels. These solutions are used as initial conditions for the numerical simulations of the discrete equations, which reveal a coherent transport of energy in the molecule for r > 3. The results also indicate that the width of the solitons is a decreasing function of r, which help to stabilize the solitons propagating in the molecule. To confirm further the efficiency of energy transport in the molecule, the modulational instability of the system is performed and the numerical simulations show that the energy can flow from one polypeptide chain to another in the form of nonlinear waves.