Nanomechanical crowding at the interface between RNA and soft surfaces

Nanomechanical crowding remains theoretically unexplored at the interface of RNA molecules and soft surfaces. Existing RNA molecular models tend to reach very complex ensembles on themselves to be combined to e.g. soft matter mechanics. Here, we introduce a multiscale approach which couples a tractable RNA coarse-grained model with an elastic energy component. Within this approach, we study the specific role of RNA's secondary structure patterns on the deformation of soft surfaces by characterizing representative RNA motifs. We also vary the length of the investigated molecules and propose scaling trends for longer RNAs. Under controlled molecular crowding conditions we analyze the effects of conformational entropy and the interplay between surface energy per monomer and deformation lengths. Our findings add a novel way to address the mechanisms of response of encapsulated RNA inside crowded macromolecular environments, like the ones faced during RNA delivery.