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Images of the DNA double helix in water
S M Lindsay1, T Thundat, L Nagahara
1Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe 85287.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|June 2, 1989
Abstract:
The scanning tunneling microscope can image uncoated DNA submerged in water. The grooves of the double helix were clearly resolved in images of the 146-base pair fragment extracted from calf thymus nucleosome. In contrast to images obtained with dry DNA, the helix pitch varied only a small amount (36 +/- 5 angstroms). The path of the helix shows considerable variation. It is quite straight when the molecules are densely packed, but it curves and bends in isolated molecules.