Researchers Unfold Single RNA Molecules Using Mechanical Force

http://www.hhmi.org/news/bustamante.html

By applying precise, mechanical
forces to the ends of individual RNA molecules,
researchers have successfully unfolded and refolded
the molecules. According to the scientists,
measurements of the forces needed to unfold
and refold these molecules will yield new information
about how RNA molecules achieve their stable
three-dimensional structures.
In an article published in the April 27, 2001,
issue of Science, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
investigator Carlos Bustamante and colleagues
Jan Liphardt, Bibiana Onoa, Steven B. Smith and
Ignacio Tinoco, Jr., at the University of California,
Berkeley, reported how they used mechanical force to
unfold three types of RNA molecules.

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