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Updated: Jan 5, 2026

C. elegans Tracking and Behavioral Measurement
Published on: November 17, 2012
Orientationally ordered states of a wormlike chain in spherical confinement
Qin Liang1,2, Ying Jiang2, Jeff Z Y Chen3
1Faculty of Mathematics and Computational Science, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, Hunan 411105, China.
Abstract:
One of the basic characteristics of a linear dsDNA molecule is its persistence length, typically of order 50 nm. The DNA chain inflicts a large energy penalty if it is bent sharply at that length scale. Viruses of bacteria, known as bacteriophages, typically have a dimension of a few tens of nanometers. Yet, it is known that a bacteriophage actively packages viral DNA inside the capsid and ejects it afterwards. Here, adopting a commonly used polymer model known as the wormlike chain, we answer an idealized question: Placing a linear DNA molecule inside a spherical cavity, what ordered states can we derive from known tools in statistical physics? Solving the model in a rigorous field-theory framework, we report a universal phase diagram for four orientationally ordered and disordered states, in terms of two relevant physical parameters.
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