In this perspective article, we focus on recent developments in the theory of charge effects in
biological DNA-related systems. The electrostatic effects on different levels of DNA …

In living organisms, DNA is generally confined into very small volumes. In most viruses,
positively charged multivalent ions assist the condensation of DNA into tightly packed …

Toroids are small donut shaped organizational units within sperm chromatin and viruses
containing DNA and protein. Investigators first characterized the dimensions of toroids …

DNA condensation by multivalent cations plays a crucial role in genome packaging in
viruses and sperm heads, and has been extensively studied using single-molecule …

Supramolecular assemblies of polymers are key modules to sustain the structure of cells
and their function. The main elements of these assemblies are charged semiflexible …

The condensation of free DNA into toroidal structures in the presence of multivalent ions and
polypeptides is well known. Recent single molecule experiments have shown that …

Toroid formation is an important mechanism for DNA condensation in cells. The length
change during DNA condensation was investigated in previous single-molecule …

A simple model of a circularly closed double-stranded DNA in a poor solvent is considered
as an example of a semi-flexible polymer with self-attraction. To find the ground states, the …

Charges. Many constituents of living cells bear large charges on their surfaces. The list
includes DNA/RNA nucleic acids [1], cellular lipid membranes [2], DNAbinding [3, 4] and …

DNA is an incredibly diverse biomaterial capable of self-assembly into predetermined
nanostructures [1-6]. Combining DNA with proteins for regulatory purposes or to build …