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Surprise finding for stretched DNA

lue. This observation also implies that if we overwind the DNA, the molecule should get longer. Indeed, we found that Overwinding caused the DNA molecule to extend by about 0.5 nanometers per turn."

To explain the overwinding, Bustamante and his coauthors have proposed a simple "toy" model in which the radius of the DNA double-helix is allowed to shrink as the molecule is stretched. The model consists of an elastic rod that is wrapped around its outer surface by a stiff wire, analogous to DNA's sugar-phosphate backbone. The elastic rod is constructed from a material that conserves volume under stress.

"As this system is stretched, the elastic rod decreases in diameter," said Bustamante. "This enables the outer wire to wrap a larger number of times over the length of the rod."

The twist-stretch coupling results demonstrated by Bustamante and his collaborators holds important implications for how DNA-binding proteins are able to recognize their target sites along the helix. These proteins are known to bend, wrap, loop and twist DNA. Now it has been shown that they can achieve their goals by simultaneously stretching and overwinding a DNA molecule, or by compressing and underwinding it.

"We believe that our work sheds new light on an old and important problem," said Bustamante, "and that, in addition to improving our understanding of DNA/protein interactions, it will also have implications in nanotechnology. For example, the DNA molecule might provide the energy to power future nanomotors."


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Source:DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory


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