Remeasuring the Double Helix Export

@article{citeulike:3422632, abstract = {DNA is thought to behave as a stiff elastic rod with respect to the ubiquitous mechanical deformations inherent to its biology. To test this model at short DNA lengths, we measured the mean and variance of end-to-end length for a series of DNA double helices in solution, using small-angle x-ray scattering interference between gold nanocrystal labels. In the absence of applied tension, DNA is at least one order of magnitude softer than measured by single-molecule stretching experiments. Further, the data rule out the conventional elastic rod model. The variance in end-to-end length follows a quadratic dependence on the number of base pairs rather than the expected linear dependence, indicating that DNA stretching is cooperative over more than two turns of the DNA double helix. Our observations support the idea of long-range allosteric communication through DNA structure. 10.1126/science.1158881}, author = {Mathew-Fenn, Rebecca S. and Das, Rhiju and Harbury, Pehr A.}, citeulike-article-id = {3422632}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1158881}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/322/5900/446}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18927394}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=18927394}, day = {17}, doi = {10.1126/science.1158881}, journal = {Science}, keywords = {distance-measurement, dna, saxs}, month = {October}, number = {5900}, pages = {446--449}, posted-at = {2008-10-22 02:15:57}, priority = {4}, title = {Remeasuring the Double Helix}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1158881}, volume = {322}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:3422632 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3422632 N2 - DNA is thought to behave as a stiff elastic rod with respect to the ubiquitous mechanical deformations inherent to its biology. To test this model at short DNA lengths, we measured the mean and variance of end-to-end length for a series of DNA double helices in solution, using small-angle x-ray scattering interference between gold nanocrystal labels. In the absence of applied tension, DNA is at least one order of magnitude softer than measured by single-molecule stretching experiments. Further, the data rule out the conventional elastic rod model. The variance in end-to-end length follows a quadratic dependence on the number of base pairs rather than the expected linear dependence, indicating that DNA stretching is cooperative over more than two turns of the DNA double helix. Our observations support the idea of long-range allosteric communication through DNA structure. 10.1126/science.1158881 IS - 5900 JF - Science EP - 449 TI - Remeasuring the Double Helix VL - 322 SP - 446 KW - distance-measurement KW - dna KW - saxs AU - Mathew-Fenn, Rebecca AU - Das, Rhiju AU - Harbury, Pehr PY - 2008/10/17/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1158881 ER -