Compression and self-entanglement of single DNA molecules under uniform electric field
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Tang-2011-Compression and self.pdf
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Author(s)
Tang, Jing
Du, Ning
Doyle, Patrick S
Date Issued
September 2011
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
Citation
Tang, J., N. Du, and P. S. Doyle. “Compression and Self-entanglement of Single DNA Molecules Under Uniform Electric Field.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108.39 (2011): 16153–16158. Web. ©2011 by the National Academy of Sciences.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We experimentally study the effects of a uniform electric field on the conformation of single DNA molecules. We demonstrate that a moderate electric field (~200 V/cm) strongly compresses isolated DNA polymer coils into isotropic globules. Insight into the nature of these compressed states is gained by following the expansion of the molecules back to equilibrium after halting the electric field. We observe two distinct types of expansion modes: a continuous molecular expansion analogous to a compressed spring expanding, and a much slower expansion characterized by two long-lived metastable states. Fluorescence microscopy and stretching experiments reveal that the metastable states are the result of intramolecular self-entanglements induced by the electric field. These results have broad importance in DNA separations and single molecule genomics, polymer rheology, and DNA-based nanofabrication.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
Singapore-MIT Alliance in Research and Technology (SMART)
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1105547108
