Abstract With rapid advancements in the emerging field of RNA nanotechnology, its current and potential applications, new important problems arise in our quest to better understand properties of RNA nanocomplexes. In this paper, our focus is on the modeling of RNA nanotubes which are important for many biological processes. These RNA complexes are also important for human beings, with their theurapeutical and biomedical applications discussed vigorously in the literature over the recent years. Here, we develop a continuum model of RNA nanotubes, originally obtained from self assembly of RNA building blocks in the molecular dynamics simulation. Based on the finite element method, we calculate the elastic properties of these nanostructures and provide a relationship between stress and strain induced in the RNA nanotube. We also analyze the variations in the displacement vector along the assembly axis for RNA nanotubes of different sizes. In particular, we show that oscillations in the amplitudes of strains and displacements significantly differ for such RNA nanotubes. These findings are discussed in the context of atomistic simulations and experimental results in this field.

中文翻译：

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用于研究 RNA 纳米管机械性能的原子到连续模型

摘要 随着 RNA 纳米技术新兴领域及其当前和潜在应用的快速发展，在我们寻求更好地了解 RNA 纳米复合物的特性的过程中出现了新的重要问题。在本文中，我们的重点是对许多生物过程很重要的 RNA 纳米管的建模。这些 RNA 复合物对人类也很重要，近年来在文献中对它们的治疗和生物医学应用进行了热烈讨论。在这里，我们开发了一个 RNA 纳米管的连续模型，最初是从分子动力学模拟中 RNA 构建块的自组装中获得的。基于有限元方法，我们计算了这些纳米结构的弹性特性，并提供了在 RNA 纳米管中引起的应力和应变之间的关系。我们还分析了不同尺寸 RNA 纳米管沿组装轴的位移矢量的变化。特别是，我们表明这种 RNA 纳米管的应变和位移振幅的振荡显着不同。这些发现在该领域的原子模拟和实验结果的背景下进行了讨论。