AUTHOR=Wettermann Sarah , Datta Ranajay , Virnau Peter 

TITLE=Influence of ionic conditions on knotting in a coarse-grained model for DNA

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2022.1096014

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2022.1096014

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=<p>We investigate knotting probabilities of long double-stranded DNA strands in a coarse-grained Kratky-Porod model for DNA with Monte Carlo simulations. Various ionic conditions are implemented by adjusting the effective diameter of monomers. We find that the occurrence of knots in DNA can be reinforced considerably by high salt conditions and confinement between plates. Likewise, knots can almost be dissolved completely in a low salt scenario. Comparisons with recent experiments confirm that the coarse-grained model is able to capture and quantitatively predict topological features of DNA and can be used for guiding future experiments on DNA knots.</p>