Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 6, 2026

High-Speed Magnetic Tweezers for Nanomechanical Measurements on Force-Sensitive Elements
08:50

High-Speed Magnetic Tweezers for Nanomechanical Measurements on Force-Sensitive Elements

Published on: May 12, 2023

Probing the mechanical unzipping of DNA

N K Voulgarakis1, A Redondo, A R Bishop

  • 1Theoretical Division and Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.

Physical Review Letters
|August 16, 2006
PubMed

More Related Videos

Single-molecule Manipulation of G-quadruplexes by Magnetic Tweezers08:28

Single-molecule Manipulation of G-quadruplexes by Magnetic Tweezers

Published on: September 19, 2017

Single-Molecule Real-Time Visualization of DNA Unwinding by CMG Helicase07:37

Single-Molecule Real-Time Visualization of DNA Unwinding by CMG Helicase

Published on: September 27, 2024

Related Concept Videos

DNA Helicases00:55

DNA Helicases

DNA unwinding helicase enzymes are a type of motor protein. Motor proteins can translocate along filaments or polymers using energy generated from ATP hydrolysis. Helicases are involved in all the important cellular processes where DNA unwinding is required, such as DNA replication, repair, recombination, and transcription. They are present in all living organisms, but vary in their structure, function, and mechanism of action. For example, in prokaryotes, DnaB helicase binds and translocates...
The Replisome03:01

The Replisome

DNA replication is carried out by a large complex of proteins that act in a coordinated matter to achieve high-fidelity DNA replication. Together this complex is known as the DNA replication machinery or the replisome.
The synthesis of the leading and lagging strands is a highly coordinated process. To explain this, the “Trombone model” was proposed by Bruce Alberts in 1980. The DNA loop formation starts when a primer is synthesized on the parent lagging strand. The loop grows with the...
DNA Topoisomerases02:02

DNA Topoisomerases

Topoisomerases are enzymes that relax overwound DNA molecules during various cell processes, including DNA replication and transcription. These enzymes regulate positive and negative DNA supercoiling without changing the nucleotide sequence. DNA overwinding in a clockwise direction results in positively supercoiled DNA, whereas underwinding in a counterclockwise direction produces negatively supercoiled DNA.
Types and Mechanism of action
Topoisomerases are divided into two main types.  Type I...
The DNA Replication Fork01:02

The DNA Replication Fork

An organism’s genome needs to be duplicated in an efficient and error-free manner for its growth and survival. The replication fork is a Y-shaped active region where two strands of DNA are separated and replicated continuously. The coupling of DNA unzipping and complementary strand synthesis is a characteristic feature of a replication fork.   Organisms with small circular DNA, such as E. coli, often have a single origin of replication; therefore, they have only two replication forks, one in...
The DNA Helix01:07

The DNA Helix

Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is the genetic material responsible for passing traits from generation to generation in all organisms and most viruses. DNA is composed of two strands of nucleotides that wind around each other to form a spring-like structure called a double helix. However, the double helix is not perfectly symmetrical. Instead, there are regularly occurring grooves in the structure. The major groove occurs where the sugar-phosphate backbones are relatively far apart. This space...
The DNA Helix01:16

The DNA Helix

Overview