A coarse grained model for DNA and polymer packaging: statics and dynamics

We present a numerical characterization of the statics and dynamics of the packaging of a semi-flexiblepolymer inside a sphere. The study is motivated by recent experiments on the packaging of DNAfilaments inside viral capsids. It is found that the force required to confine the coarse-grained polymer isin fair agreement with that found in experiments on the packaging of the phi29 bacteriophage genome.Despite its schematic nature, the model is capable of reproducing the most salient dynamical features ofpackaging experiments such as the presence of pauses during individual packaging processes and theoverall shape of the resisting force as a function of chain packed fraction.