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Updated: Jul 1, 2026

Direct Observation of Enzymes Replicating DNA Using a Single-molecule DNA Stretching Assay
Published on: March 24, 2010
Ten years of tension: single-molecule DNA mechanics
Carlos Bustamante1, Zev Bryant, Steven B Smith
1Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. carlos@alice.berkeley.edu
Abstract:
The basic features of DNA were elucidated during the half-century following the discovery of the double helix. But it is only during the past decade that researchers have been able to manipulate single molecules of DNA to make direct measurements of its mechanical properties. These studies have illuminated the nature of interactions between DNA and proteins, the constraints within which the cellular machinery operates, and the forces created by DNA-dependent motors.
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