title: Single-molecule studies of DNA mechanics.
abstract: During the past decade, physical techniques such as optical tweezers and atomic force microscopy were used to study the mechanical properties of DNA at the single-molecule level. Knowledge of DNA's stretching and twisting properties now permits these single-molecule techniques to be used in the study of biological processes such as DNA replication and transcription.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. carlos@alice. berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bustamante
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liphardt
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D004548:Elasticity; D006801:Humans; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation
chemical_list: D004247:DNA