The stability of DNA molecules during viral or biotechnological encapsulation is a topic of active current research. We studied the thermal stability of double-stranded DNA molecules of different lengths in a confined space. Using a statistical model, we evaluate the melting profile of DNA molecules in two geometries: conical and cylindrical. Our results show that not only the confinement, but also the geometry of the confined space plays a prominent role in the stability and opening of the DNA duplex. We find that for more confined spaces, cylindrical confinement stabilizes the DNA, but for less confined spaces conical geometry stabilizes the DNA overall. We also analyse the interaction between DNA sequence and stability, and the evenness with which strand separation occurs. Cylindrical and conical geometries enable a better controlled tuning of the stability of DNA encapsulation and the efficiency of its eventual release, compared to spherical or quasi-spherical geometries.

DNA 分子在病毒或生物技术封装过程中的稳定性是当前研究的热点。我们研究了密闭空间中不同长度的双链 DNA 分子的热稳定性。使用统计模型，我们评估了两种几何形状的 DNA 分子的熔解曲线：锥形和圆柱形。我们的结果表明，不仅限制，而且密闭空间的几何形状对 DNA 双链体的稳定性和开放性都起着重要作用。我们发现，对于更密闭的空间，圆柱形限制可以稳定 DNA，但对于不太密闭的空间，锥形几何形状可以整体稳定 DNA。我们还分析了 DNA 序列和稳定性之间的相互作用，以及发生链分离的均匀性。