  Langevin dynamics is employed to study the looping kinetics of self-avoiding
polymers both in ideal and crowded solutions. A rich kinetics results from the
competition of two crowding-induced effects: the depletion attraction and the
enhanced viscous friction. For short chains, the enhanced friction slows down
looping, while, for longer chains, the depletion attraction renders it more
frequent and persistent. We discuss the possible relevance of the findings for
chromatin looping in living cells.
