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Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Synthetic Condensates and Cell-Like Architectures from Amphiphilic DNA Nanostructures
Published on: May 31, 2024
DNA condensation by field-induced non-equilibrium noise
Robijn F Bruinsma1, Robert Riehn
1Department of Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1537, USA. bruinsma@physics.ucla.edu
Abstract:
DNA molecules under good solvent conditions condense when subjected to strong AC electrical fields. It is shown that AC electrical fields couple charge fluctuations to molecular shape fluctuations, which produces a non-equilibrium noise source that can dominate over equilibrium thermal noise in the long-wavelength limit. The field-induced excess charge fluctuations amplify the Asakura-Oosawa fluctuation attraction force between neighboring chains, providing a mechanism for field-induced DNA condensation.
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