糖心视频

(糖心视频Org.com) -- Researchers in biophysics, including members from the Niels Bohr Institute, have discovered new properties of DNA and observed a number of phenomena of great importance for cellular mechanisms. By studying how DNA behaves under the influence of a force they have discovered that DNA melts and that the melting bubbles depend on the sequence of the base pairs in the DNA strand. These discoveries are brand new and contrary to what was previously believed, but the discoveries are based on very reliable and precise measurements. The results have just been published in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature 糖心视频ics.

DNA is the most important molecule in a living organism. It contains all of the information about the individual and the correct reading of DNA by cellular mechanisms is essential for an organism to remain alive and stay healthy. When DNA is decoded and maintained by the small 鈥榤achines鈥� of the cell, it is constantly exposed to forces that pull, stretch, squeeze and bend it, making the physical properties of DNA crucial for the correct reading and maintenance.

A research team comprised of researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, VU University Amsterdam and ESPCI, Paris has revealed in detail how DNA behaves when subjected to forces like those from the machinery of the cell.

"We found, very surprisingly, that when DNA stretches, it twists in on itself. At low forces it twists in the direction of the DNA鈥檚 double helix, but at higher forces it twists backwards, that is to say that the helix shape unfolds鈥�, explains biophysicist at the Niels Bohr Institute, Lene Oddershede, who leads the Optical Tweezer research group.

She explains that, using these physical phenomena, the researchers have built an entirely new theoretical model, which correctly describe the behaviour of DNA when subjected to a force all the way up to the forces that would melt DNA. The new model is called the 鈥榯wistable worm-like-chain鈥� model.

Melt like bubbles

The researchers have stretched a single DNA molecule using a so-called optical tweezer, which is a nano-tool that is capable of exerting a force on the stretched molecule with incredible precision while measuring precisely how long the molecule is. When DNA is exposed to a force of around 65 pN it will expand considerably without needing to apply more force. What happens is that DNA melts from being double-stranded into being single-stranded. The researchers have shown that when DNA melts it takes place in bubbles, where hundreds of base pairs melt simultaneously. The exact size of the melting bubbles can be predicted by knowing the base pair sequence.

鈥淭he results are particularly interesting because they contradict previous literature to a certain degree and reveal new properties of DNA that are very important for cellular mechanisms鈥�, says Lene Oddershede and explains that the reason that this particular research group, with an experimental basis at the Niels Bohr Institute and in Amsterdam, has been able to make these discoveries is that the optical tweezers are of a superior quality and have an incredibly good signal to noise ratio. Such small movements on the curve that originate from 鈥榤elting bubbles鈥�, dismissed by others as noise, were observed by this research group as not being noise, but rather a very meaningful signal which provides information about the basic properties of DNA.