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Stretching, Tearing, and Dissecting Single Molecules of DNA
Author(s) -
Samorì Bruno
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-3773(19980904)37:16<2198::aid-anie2198>3.0.co;2-y
Subject(s) - schematic , optical tweezers , molecule , tearing , nanotechnology , magnetic tweezers , dna , materials science , atomic force microscopy , force spectroscopy , scanning force microscopy , crystallography , chemistry , optics , physics , composite material , engineering , biochemistry , organic chemistry , electronic engineering
Optical tweezers, bendable microneedles, and scanning force microscope probes make it possible to play with individual molecules of DNA, to stretch them beyond their natural length, to unzip and pull apart their strands (see schematic diagram), and to dissect them to create new molecules in situ. Depending on the method of measurement, the mechanical force necessary to separate the strands was in the range of 10–50 pN per base pair.