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Updated: Aug 11, 2026

DNA Nanotubes as a Versatile Tool to Study Semiflexible Polymers
Published on: October 25, 2017
Compression and free expansion of single DNA molecules in nanochannels
Christian Hermann Reccius1, John Thomas Mannion, Joshua David Cross
1School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA. hcf3@cornell.edu
Abstract:
We investigated compression and ensuing expansion of long DNA molecules confined in nanochannels. Transverse confinement of DNA molecules in the nanofluidic channels leads to elongation of their unconstrained equilibrium configuration. The extended molecules were compressed by electrophoretically driving them into porelike constrictions inside the nanochannels. When the electric field was turned off, the DNA strands expanded. This expansion, the dynamics of which has not previously been observable in artificial systems, is explained by a model that is a variation of de Gennes's polymer model.
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