  Homopolymer chain with beads forming pairwise reversible bonds is a
well-known model in polymer physics. We studied kinetics of homopolymer chain
collapse, which was induced by pairwise reversible bonds formation. We compared
kinetic mechanism of this coil-globule transition with the mechanism of
collapse in a poor solvent. We discovered, that coil-globule transition occurs
sufficiently more homogeneously on different scales, if collapse is induced by
pairwise reversible bonds formation. This effect leads to formation of
transient structures, which are not similar to the classical pearl-necklace
conformations formed during collapse in a poor solvent. However, both types of
collapse lead to formation of a metastable state of crumpled globule, which is
one of the well-known models of interphase chromatin structure in different
organisms. Moreover, we found out that stability and dynamics of this state can
be controlled by fraction of reversible bonds and bond lifetime.
