Fig. 5: Modeling the distribution of plasmid position and comparison with experimental data.
a Fitted position distribution of the confined plasmid in cavities containing a single T4-DNA molecule with eccentricity ranging from e = 0 to e = 0.995. The scale bars are 1 μm, 1 μm, 1.2 μm, 1.2 μm, 1.6 μm and 1.6 μm respectively for cavities with eccentricities ranging from e = 0 to e = 0.995. Plasmid probability density along the major (b) and minor (c) axis for e = 0.9. Experimental data are shown as red points, with error bars corresponding to the standard error of the mean of the binned counts (n = 3 bins for each point). Black dashed lines indicate the resulting fitted model plasmid probability density. Cross-sectional slices of the predicted potential along the major (d) and minor (e) axis for e = 0.9. The red dot-dashed line indicates the wall-potential; the black dashed line indicates the exclusion potential arising from the T4-DNA; the green solid line indicates the superposition of both potentials. Note that a potential well forms at the overlap region between the repulsive wall-potential and the self-exclusion potential, with the insets giving the detailed behavior of the potential in the well vicinity.
