DNA knots in confinement*

Knots are practical constructs which predate the discovery of fire, have been exploited for centuries by sailors, and are commonplace in our everyday life. Knots occur spontaneously in long polymers and play an important role in biological/biotechnological processes such as viral DNA packaging and release, protein stability and DNA sequencing. In many of these processes, the DNA is highly confined or passes through confined spaces. In my group, we have been pursuing a multipronged approach to study knots which includes single molecule experiments, mesoscale simulations, and theory. Here I will discuss some recent findings on DNA knots regarding a universal correlation between knotting probability and complexity, and also studies of DNA knot dynamics in microfluidic flow devices.