title: Scanning tunneling microscopy of mercapto-hexyl-oligonucleotides attached to gold.
abstract: 6-mercapto hexyl-oligonucleotides bind to a gold surface strongly enough to permit imaging by a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). STM images showed worm-like chains that were approximately 12-(A-wide for single-stranded DNA and 20-(A-wide for double-stranded DNA. The chain lengths corresponded to 3.4 +/- 0.4 A per basepair for double-stranded DNA and 2.2 +/- 0.4 A per base for single-stranded DNA. This unexpectedly short length for single-stranded DNA was confirmed using oligomers with both single- and double-stranded regions. When the attachment of the samples was weakened (by imaging in water or scraping with the STM tip) the images changed to pairs of "blobs," apparently reflecting the attachment points of the molecules to the gold surface. Given this interpretation, images of DNA containing a five-base bulge imply that the bulge bends the oligomer by 90 degrees +/- 20 degrees.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Arizona State University, Tempe 85287, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rekesh
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lyubchenko
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Shlyakhtenko
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lindsay
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D001482:Base Composition; D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006046:Gold; D016252:Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling / Q000379:methods; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D055672:Static Electricity; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds
chemical_list: D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; D006046:Gold; D004247:DNA