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Updated: Jul 4, 2026

DNA Nanotubes as a Versatile Tool to Study Semiflexible Polymers
Published on: October 25, 2017
Shapes of semiflexible polymers in confined spaces
1Martin Fisher School of Physics, Brandeis University, Mailstop 057, Waltham, MA 02454-9110, USA.
Abstract:
Biological macromolecules, living in the confines of a cell, often adopt conformations that are unlikely to occur in free space. In this paper, we investigate the effects of confinement on the shape of a semiflexible chain. Results of Monte Carlo simulations show the existence of a shape transition when the persistence length of the polymer becomes comparable to the dimensions of the box. An order parameter is introduced to quantify this behavior. A simple model is constructed to study the effect of the shape transition on the effective persistence length of the polymer.
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