title: DNA bending stiffness on small length scales.
abstract: Bending properties of short (15-90 bp), double-stranded DNA fragments are quantified using fluorescence resonance energy transfer and small angle x-ray scattering. Results from both types of measurements indicate that short double-stranded DNA fragments exhibit surprisingly high flexibility. These observations are discussed in terms of base-pair-level length fluctuations originating from dynamic features of Watson-Crick base pairs.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Chongli
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Huimin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xiong Wen
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.forename: Lynden A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Archer
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D031541:Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry; D053838:Scattering, Small Angle; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D009841:Oligonucleotides; D004247:DNA