Decondensation behavior of DNA chains induced by multivalent cations at high salt concentrations: Molecular dynamics simulations and experiments*
Jiang Yang-Weia), Ran Shi-Yongb), He Lin-Lib), Wang Xiang-Hongb),c), Zhang Lin-Xia)
       
(a) The integrated charge distribution Q int( r ) within a tube of radius r around a DNA, and (b) the local charge density distribution profiles Q eff( r ) at various cation concentrations for trivalent cations. (c) The illustration showing that the changes of neighboring charges around DNA chains are induced by cations and anions when multivalent cations are added into the complexes. Two insets below are the corresponding simulation snapshots.