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Related Concept Videos

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DNA as a Genetic Template

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Analyzing and Building Nucleic Acid Structures with 3DNA
16:24

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Published on: April 26, 2013

Remeasuring the double helix.

Rebecca S Mathew-Fenn1, Rhiju Das, Pehr A B Harbury

  • 1Biophysics Program, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

Science (New York, N.Y.)
|October 18, 2008
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

DNA is softer than previously thought, challenging the elastic rod model at short lengths. This suggests cooperative stretching and long-range communication within DNA structure.

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Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Biophysics
  • Structural Biology

Background:

  • DNA is often modeled as a stiff elastic rod for understanding its mechanical behavior.
  • Ubiquitous mechanical deformations are inherent to DNA's biological functions.
  • Previous studies primarily used single-molecule stretching experiments.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the mechanical properties of short DNA lengths.
  • To test the validity of the conventional elastic rod model for DNA.
  • To determine the relationship between DNA length and end-to-end length variance.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) interference.
  • Employed gold nanocrystal labels attached to DNA double helices.
  • Measured mean and variance of end-to-end length for DNA in solution.

Main Results:

  • DNA is at least one order of magnitude softer than predicted by single-molecule stretching experiments.
  • The conventional elastic rod model for DNA is not supported by the data.
  • Variance in end-to-end length shows a quadratic, not linear, dependence on base pair number.

Conclusions:

  • Short DNA segments exhibit significantly different mechanical properties than previously modeled.
  • DNA stretching is a cooperative process extending over more than two helical turns.
  • Findings support the concept of long-range allosteric communication mediated by DNA structure.