We use coarse-grained Langevin dynamics simulations to study packing of semiflexible polymers into a spherical capsid, with and without a tail, inside a crowded cell. We use neutral and charged, but highly screened, polymers and compare packing rates of the two. Such packing conditions are relevant, for example, to $\lambda$ DNA packing inside Escherichia coli bacterial cells, where the crowd particles are proteins, bacterial DNA, and salts. For a neutral polymer packing into a capsid with a tail, attractive interactions with the crowd particles make packing slightly harder at higher crowd densities, but repulsive interactions make it easier. Our results indicate that packing into a tailless capsid is less efficient at low crowd densities than into one with a long tail. However, this trend becomes opposite at higher densities. In addition, packing into a capsid with a long tail shows a highly variable waiting time before packing initiates, a feature absent for a tailless capsid. Electrical interactions at physiological conditions do not have much effect. Some bacterial cells, such as Pseudomonas chlororaphis, form a nucleuslike structure encapsulating the phage $201\varphi 2-1$ DNA. We also study here the packing dynamics with the nucleus present. We find packing is faster compared to the case of no-nucleus packing. We also observe knot formations but these knots untangle quickly while the polymer translocates. This knot formation is independent of polymer charge and presence of crowd particles.

• Received 17 December 2018
• Revised 26 August 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.100.052412