Single-molecule Magnetic Tweezer Tests On DNA

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Also Included In: Genetics
Article Date: 04 Jun 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Biomedical researchers stretch and twist single DNA molecules with magnetic tweezers.

By making the molecule writhe into a plectoneme (ply), DNA parameters, such as its effective radius, are estimated.

Adding untangling enzymes (topoisomerases) to the DNA's environment, their individual cuts are detected as jumps in extension.

The novelty of this paper is to study their actions in ply solutions from elastic rod theory.

This allows identification of which untwisted states can and cannot be reached, and which offer the greatest relaxation. This knowledge has medical value. Topoisomerase inhibitors, lethal for cells, are used as antibiotics and in chemotherapy for cancer.

Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences

Proceedings A has an illustrious history of publishing pioneering and influential research articles across the across the entire range of the physical and mathematical sciences. These have included Maxwell's electromagnetic theory, the Braggs' first account of X-ray crystallography, Dirac's relativistic theory of the electron, and Watson and Crick's detailed description of the structure of DNA.

www.publishing.royalsociety.org/proceedingsa