Single molecule study of the reaction between DNA and formamide

The kinetics of the reaction between double stranded DNA (dsDNA) and formamide is monitored at the single DNA molecule level. We find that stretching of the DNA leads to an accelerated reaction rate and to a shift in the final equilibrium concentrations. The larger the stretching force, the faster the reaction and the larger the denatured fraction of the product DNA. The single molecule kinetics is obtained from the change in the contour length of the DNA which, in turn, is measured using optical tweezers on a microbead-single DNA molecule-cover slip construct.