The topic of self-assembly of cylinder-forming diblock copolymers （DBCPs） under spherical shell confinement in different surface fields is explored using real-space self-consistent field theory calculations （SCFT）. Using this approach we observed various microstructures of cylinder-forming DBCPs at different confinement dimensions and surface fields. From detailed searching for the microdomain morphologies, an obvious conclusion is that the interactions between the confinement surface and the polymers have a great effect on the self-assembly. Most of the microstructures are unique and not reported in bulk or under planar and cylindrical confinements.
The condensation of DNA induced by spermine is studied by atomic force microscopy （AFM） and molecular dynamics （MD） simulation in this paper. In our experiments, an equivalent amount of multivalent cations is added to the DNA solutions in different numbers of steps, and we find that the process of DNA condensation strongly depends on the speed of adding cations. That is, the slower the spermine cations are added, the slower the DNA aggregates. The MD and steered molecular dynamics （SMD） simulation results agree well with the experimental results, and the simulation data also show that the more steps of adding multivalent cations there are, the more compact the condensed DNA structure will be. This investigation can help us to control DNA condensation and understand the complicated structures of DNA--cation complexes.
DNA condensation is an important process in many fields including life sciences, polymer physics, and applied technology. In the nucleus, DNA is condensed into chromosomes. In polymer physics, DNA is treated as a semi-flexible molecule and a polyelectrolyte. Many agents, including multi-valent cations, surfactants, and neutral poor solvents, can cause DNA condensation, also referred to as coil–globule transition. Moreover, DNA condensation has been used for extraction and gene delivery in applied technology. Many physical theories have been presented to elucidate the mechanism underlying DNA condensation, including the counterion correlation theory, the electrostatic zipper theory, and the hydration force theory. Recently several single-molecule studies have focused on DNA condensation, shedding new light on old concepts. In this document, the multi-field concepts and theories related to DNA condensation are introduced and clarified as well as the advances and considerations of single-molecule DNA condensation experiments are introduced.
The phase behaviour of polyethylene knotted ring chains is investigated by using molecular dynamics simulations. In this paper, we focus on the collapse of the polyethylene knotted ring chain, and also present the results of linear and ring chains for comparison. At high temperatures, a fully extensive knot structure is observed. The mean-square radius of gyration per bond （S2）/（Nb2） and the shape factor （（δ＊） depend on not only the chain length but also the knot type. With temperature decreasing, chain collapse is observed, and the collapse temperature decreases with the chain length increasing. The actual collapse transition can be determined by the specific heat capacity Cv, and the knotted ring chain undergoes gas-liquid-solid-like transition directly. The phase transition of a knotted ring chain is only one-stage collapse, which is different from the polyethylene linear and ring chains. This investigation can provide some insights into the statistical properties of knotted polymer chains.
The dynamic behaviours of the translocations of closed circular polymers and closed knotted polymers through a nanopore, under the driving of an applied field, are studied by three-dimensional Langevin dynamics sinmlations. The power-law scaling of the translocation time T with the chain length N and the distribution of translocation time are investigated separately. For closed circular polymers, a crossover scaling of translocation time with chain length is found to be T - N^a with the exponent a varying from a = 0.71 for relatively short chains to a = 1.29 for longer chains under driving force F = 5. The scaling behaviour for longer chains is in good agreement with experimental results, in which the exponent α= 1.27 for the transloeation of double-strand DNA. The distribution of translocation time D（τ） is close to a Gaussian function for duration time τ 〈 τp and follows a falling exponential function for duration time T 〉 wp. For closed knotted polymers, the scaling exponent a is 1.27 for small field force （F = 5） and 1.38 for large field force （F = 10）. The distribution of translocation time D（τ） remarkably features two peaks appearing in the case of large driving force. The interesting result of multiple peaks can conduce to the understanding of the influence of the number of strands of polymers in the pore at the same time on translocation dynamic process and scaling property.
