In this review, we provide an organized summary of the theoretical and computational
results that are available for polymers subject to spatial or topological constraints. Because …

Biopolymers in vivo are typically subject to spatial restraints, either as a result of molecular
crowding in the cellular medium or of direct spatial confinement. DNA in living organisms …

Recent experiments showed that the linear double-stranded DNA in bacteriophage capsids
is both highly knotted and neatly structured. What is the physical basis of this organization …

Although several molecular prime knots have been prepared to date, their stereoselective
synthesis is still a rare occurrence. Here, we report a two-step, completely stereospecific …

Knots appear in a wide variety of biophysical systems, ranging from biopolymers, such as
DNA and proteins, to macroscopic objects, such as umbilical cords and catheters. Although …

Observation that DNA molecules in bacteriophage capsids preferentially form torus type of
knots provided a sensitive gauge to evaluate various models of DNA arrangement in phage …

The ropelength of a knot is the minimum contour length of a tube of unit radius that traces out
the knot in three dimensional space without self-overlap, colloquially the minimum amount of …

Selectively spooling single plasmid DNA (pDNA), as a giant polyelectrolyte, into a
nanosized toroidal structure or folding it into a rod-like structure has been accomplished by …

The study of knots and links from a probabilistic viewpoint provides insight into the behavior
of “typical” knots, and opens avenues for new constructions of knots and other topological …

Bacteriophage T5 DNA ejection is a complex process that occurs on several timescales in
vitro. By using a combination of bulk and single phage measurements, we quantitatively …