PMC

Elementary moves employed in the stochastic dynamics of model mucin chains.

Distributions of the end-to-end vectors of the MUC16 brush for various surface densities of the anchor M domains.

Density profiles of the MUC16 B domains in the presence and absence of LML.

Snapshot from REMC simulations of the mucus/nanoparticles system. Black: nanoparticles. Purple and blue: MUC16 A and B domains, respectively. Red and green: polar and hydrophobic domains of LML mucins, respectively.

Distribution of nanoparticles density for the AML layer (not covered by the gel layer) for various surface coverage. The leftmost points of distributions correspond to nanoparticles. touching the membrane surface.

(A) Distribution of MUC16 segments and across the AML/LML mucus layer (for better readability, the scale for nanoparticle distribution is given at the right-hand side of the plot). (B) The corresponding distribution of the gel mucins.

Distribution of A domains (purple), B domains (blue), and nanoparticles (black) for the AML layer (not covered by the gel layer) for the system with surface coverage equal to 0.05. For better readability, the scale for nanoparticle distribution is given at the right-hand side of the plot.