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Cited by 218

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Remeasuring the Double Helix

Open access
Mathew-Fenn, Rebecca S., Das, Rhiju, Harbury, Pehr A. B.·2008·Science

Abstract

DNA is thought to behave as a stiff elastic rod with respect to the ubiquitous mechanical deformations inherent to its biology. To test this model at short DNA lengths, we measured the mean and variance of end-to-end length for a series of DNA double helices in solution, using small-angle x-ray scattering interference between gold nanocrystal labels. In the absence of applied tension, DNA is at least one order of magnitude softer than measured by single-molecule stretching experiments. Further, the data rule out the conventional elastic rod model. The variance in end-to-end length follows a quadratic dependence on the number of base pairs rather than the expected linear dependence, indicating that DNA stretching is cooperative over more than two turns of the DNA double helix. Our observations support the idea of long-range allosteric communication through DNA structure.

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Metadata

Authors
Mathew-Fenn, R. S., Das, R., & Harbury, P. A. B.
Venue
Science
Published
2008-10-17
Volume
322
Issue
5900
Pages
446-449
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W2157650085
Cited by
218
References
1
FWCI
6.08
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Remeasuring the Double Helix. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1126/science.1158881
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Mathew-Fenn, R. S., Das, R., & Harbury, P. A. B. (2008). Remeasuring the Double Helix. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1158881

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