Coarse-grained models articles from across Nature Portfolio

The self-assembly process of DNA nanostructures is still not well understood, especially for DNA origami. Here, the authors present a mesoscopic model that uses a switchable force field to capture the mechanical behavior of single- and double-stranded DNA motifs and transition between them, allowing access to the long assembly timescales of DNA origami up to several kilobases in size.

Condensin complexes drive mitotic chromosome formation by structuring chromatin into nested loops and organizing them along a central, helical scaffold.

Short-lived topological defects in active liquid crystals can exhibit long-range, long-lived orientational order.

Cells can sense their environment by applying and responding to mechanical forces, yet how these forces are transmitted through the cell's cytoskeleton is largely unknown. Now, a combination of experiments and computer simulations shows how forces applied to the cell cortex are synergistically shared by motor proteins and crosslinkers.

The challenge to link understanding and manipulation at the microscale to functional behaviour at the macroscale defines the frontiers of mesoscale science.