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Related Concept Videos

Mechanically-gated Ion Channels01:12

Mechanically-gated Ion Channels

Mechanically-gated ion channels are proteins found in eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell membranes that open in response to mechanical stress. Tension, compression, swelling, and shear stress can alter the conformation of the protein, opening a transmembrane channel that allows the passage of ions for signal transmission. In eukaryotes, mechanically-gated channels are distributed in several regions like the neurons, lungs, skin, bladder, and heart, where they play critical roles in numerous...
Mechanically-gated Ion Channels01:12

Mechanically-gated Ion Channels

Mechanically-gated ion channels are proteins found in eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell membranes that open in response to mechanical stress. Tension, compression, swelling, and shear stress can alter the conformation of the protein, opening a transmembrane channel that allows the passage of ions for signal transmission. In eukaryotes, mechanically-gated channels are distributed in several regions like the neurons, lungs, skin, bladder, and heart, where they play critical roles in numerous...
Riboswitches01:56

Riboswitches

Riboswitches are non-coding mRNA domains that regulate the transcription and translation of downstream genes without the help of proteins. Riboswitches bind directly to a metabolite and can form unique stem-loop or hairpin structures in response to the amount of the metabolite present. They have two distinct regions – a metabolite-binding aptamer and an expression platform.
The aptamer has high specificity for a particular metabolite which allows riboswitches to specifically regulate...
Transducer Mechanism: Enzyme-Linked Receptors01:27

Transducer Mechanism: Enzyme-Linked Receptors

Enzyme-linked receptors are cell-surface receptors acting as an enzyme or associating with an enzyme intracellularly. They make excellent drug targets. Drugs can bind to the extracellular ligand-binding domain or directly affect their enzymatic domain and alter their activity.
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Position-effect Variegation02:32

Position-effect Variegation

In 1928, a German botanist Emil Heitz observed the moss nuclei with a DNA binding dye. He observed that while some chromatin regions decondense and spread out in the interphase nucleus, others do not. He termed them euchromatin and heterochromatin, respectively. He proposed that the heterochromatin regions reflect a functionally inactive state of the genome. It was later confirmed that heterochromatin is transcriptionally repressed, and euchromatin is transcriptionally active chromatin.
Nucleosome Remodeling02:54

Nucleosome Remodeling

Nucleosomes are the basic units of chromatin compaction. Each nucleosome consists of the DNA bound tightly around a histone core, which makes the DNA inaccessible to DNA binding proteins such as DNA polymerase and RNA polymerase. Hence, the fundamental problem is to ensure access to DNA when appropriate, despite the compact and protective chromatin structure.
Nucleosome remodeling complex
Eukaryotic cells have specialized enzymes called ATP-dependent nucleosome remodeling enzymes. These enzymes...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 20, 2026

Design and Synthesis of a Reconfigurable DNA Accordion Rack
07:44

Design and Synthesis of a Reconfigurable DNA Accordion Rack

Published on: August 15, 2018

A mechano-electronic DNA switch.

Jason M Thomas1, Hua-Zhong Yu, Dipankar Sen

  • 1Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6.

Journal of the American Chemical Society
|July 28, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

We developed a novel DNA nanomachine that uses mercury ions (Hg2+) to control mechanical movement and DNA charge transport. This mercury-activated DNA switch links physical motion to electronic signals, enabling new nanodevice monitoring capabilities.

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Area of Science:

  • * Nanotechnology
  • * Molecular Biology
  • * Biophysics

Background:

  • * DNA nanomachines offer potential for nanoscale devices.
  • * Controlling mechanical motion and electronic properties in DNA nanostructures is a key challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

  • * To engineer a DNA nanomachine that couples mechanical motion to charge transport using mercury ions.
  • * To demonstrate a mechano-electronic switch based on DNA that can be monitored electronically.

Main Methods:

  • * Construction of a three-way helical junction DNA nanomachine with a mercury-binding domain.
  • * Chemical footprinting and guanine oxidation assays to monitor charge transport.
  • * Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) to track mechanical movements.

Main Results:

  • * Mercury (Hg2+) binding to T-T mismatches formed T-Hg2+-T base pairs, significantly enhancing charge transport.
  • * Hg2+ binding/dissociation directly correlated with mechanical movements of DNA stems.
  • * Enhanced charge transport was linked to stems moving from a bent to a linear, coaxially stacked conformation.

Conclusions:

  • * A novel DNA nanomachine was created that translates mercury binding into mechanical motion and altered charge transport.
  • * This mercury-activated DNA switch provides a paradigm for monitoring nanodevice mechanical work via electronic measurements.