Enhanced diffusion through multivalency.

ABSTRACT: The diffusion of macromolecules, nanoparticles, viruses, and bacteria is essential for targeting hosts or cellular destinations. While these entities can bind to receptors and ligands on host surfaces, the impact of multiple binding sites-referred to as multivalency-on diffusion along strands or surfaces is poorly understood. Through numerical simulations, we have discovered a significant acceleration in diffusion for particles with increasing valency, while maintaining the same overall affinity to the host surface. This acceleration arises from the redistribution of the binding affinity of the particle across multiple binding ligands. As a result, particles that are immobilized when monovalent can achieve near-unrestricted diffusion upon becoming multivalent. Additionally, we demonstrate

SUBMITTER: Bartos L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11615653 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature