Influence of chain stiffness on knottedness in single polymers.

Peter Virnau, Florian C Rieger, Daniel Reith

Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Staudinger Weg 7, 55128 Mainz, Germany. virnau@uni-mainz.de

Biochemical Society transactions 2013 Apr

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In the present article, we investigate and review the influence of chain stiffness on self-entanglements and knots in a single polymer chain with Monte Carlo simulations spanning good solvent, theta and globular phases. The last-named are of particular importance as a model system for DNA in viral capsids. Intriguingly, the dependence of knot occurrence and complexity with increasing stiffness is non-trivial, but can be understood with a few simple concepts outlined in the present article.

Citation

Peter Virnau, Florian C Rieger, Daniel Reith. Influence of chain stiffness on knottedness in single polymers. Biochemical Society transactions. 2013 Apr;41(2):528-32