AI 中文总结
该研究构建含漂浮单体的毛细自折叠链，调控其序列可获得多种折叠构型，揭示链长对折叠景观的影响，为研究生物分子式序列-结构关系提供可控介观平台。
AI 中文摘要
介观自组装为可编程微系统的设计提供了一条途径。在此，我们构建了由漂浮单体组成的柔性链，其弯曲分支会使液体界面产生向上或向下的形变，对应有效正或负毛细电荷。这些几何编码的形变会沿链产生局部吸引或排斥相互作用。通过调控毛细序列，我们获得了不同的折叠构型，包括直线、锯齿状图案和环。对于短链，折叠主要由最近邻相互作用主导，形成明确的结构。然而，随着链长增加，非相邻片段相互靠近并发生相互作用，折叠景观变得愈发复杂，存在多个亚稳态，其数量随链长呈指数增长。我们对这些景观进行了数值映射，并通过实验证明机械搅拌可使链在亚稳态构型之间转换。除了编码目标几何结构外，毛细序列还控制折叠景观的复杂性，以及折叠结构的简并度和突变鲁棒性。这些结果确立了毛细链作为可控介观平台，用于研究局部相互作用规则如何产生集体折叠，以及类似生物分子系统中序列与结构之间的复杂关系。
英文摘要
Mesoscale self-assembly provides a route toward the design of programmable microsystems. Here, we construct flexible chains of floating monomers whose curved branches impose upward or downward deformations of the liquid interface, corresponding to effective positive or negative capillary charges. These geometrically encoded deformations generate local attractive or repulsive interactions along the chain. By tuning the capillary sequence, we obtain distinct folded configurations, including straight lines, zigzag patterns, and loops. For short chains, folding is largely governed by nearest-neighbor interactions and leads to well-defined structures. As the chain length increases and non-neighboring segments come into proximity and interact, however, the folding landscape becomes increasingly complex, with multiple metastable states whose number grows exponentially with chain length. We map these landscapes numerically and demonstrate experimentally that mechanical agitation allows the chains to transition between metastable configurations. Beyond encoding a target geometry, the capillary sequence therefore controls the complexity of the folding landscape as well as the degeneracy and mutational robustness of folded structures. These results establish capillary chains as a controllable mesoscale platform for investigating how local interaction rules give rise to collective folding and complex sequence-to-structure relationships reminiscent of those encountered in biomolecular systems.
