Skewed brownian fluctuations in single-molecule magnetic tweezers.
Measurements in magnetic tweezers rely upon precise determination of the position of a magnetic microsphere. Fluctuations in the position due to Brownian motion allows calculation of the applied force, enabling deduction of the force-extension response function for a single DNA molecule that is atta...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2014-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4180755?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818899889095966720 |
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| author | Daniel R Burnham Iwijn De Vlaminck Thomas Henighan Cees Dekker |
| author_facet | Daniel R Burnham Iwijn De Vlaminck Thomas Henighan Cees Dekker |
| author_sort | Daniel R Burnham |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Measurements in magnetic tweezers rely upon precise determination of the position of a magnetic microsphere. Fluctuations in the position due to Brownian motion allows calculation of the applied force, enabling deduction of the force-extension response function for a single DNA molecule that is attached to the microsphere. The standard approach relies upon using the mean of position fluctuations, which is valid when the microsphere axial position fluctuations obey a normal distribution. However, here we demonstrate that nearby surfaces and the non-linear elasticity of DNA can skew the distribution. Through experiment and simulations, we show that such a skewing leads to inaccurate position measurements which significantly affect the extracted DNA extension and mechanical properties, leading to up to two-fold errors in measured DNA persistence length. We develop a simple, robust and easily implemented method to correct for such mismeasurements. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T19:55:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-77fc11de27054a9b831988d70c837a21 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T19:55:08Z |
| publishDate | 2014-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-77fc11de27054a9b831988d70c837a212022-12-21T20:07:50ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-0199e10827110.1371/journal.pone.0108271Skewed brownian fluctuations in single-molecule magnetic tweezers.Daniel R BurnhamIwijn De VlaminckThomas HenighanCees DekkerMeasurements in magnetic tweezers rely upon precise determination of the position of a magnetic microsphere. Fluctuations in the position due to Brownian motion allows calculation of the applied force, enabling deduction of the force-extension response function for a single DNA molecule that is attached to the microsphere. The standard approach relies upon using the mean of position fluctuations, which is valid when the microsphere axial position fluctuations obey a normal distribution. However, here we demonstrate that nearby surfaces and the non-linear elasticity of DNA can skew the distribution. Through experiment and simulations, we show that such a skewing leads to inaccurate position measurements which significantly affect the extracted DNA extension and mechanical properties, leading to up to two-fold errors in measured DNA persistence length. We develop a simple, robust and easily implemented method to correct for such mismeasurements.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4180755?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Daniel R Burnham Iwijn De Vlaminck Thomas Henighan Cees Dekker Skewed brownian fluctuations in single-molecule magnetic tweezers. PLoS ONE |
| title | Skewed brownian fluctuations in single-molecule magnetic tweezers. |
| title_full | Skewed brownian fluctuations in single-molecule magnetic tweezers. |
| title_fullStr | Skewed brownian fluctuations in single-molecule magnetic tweezers. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Skewed brownian fluctuations in single-molecule magnetic tweezers. |
| title_short | Skewed brownian fluctuations in single-molecule magnetic tweezers. |
| title_sort | skewed brownian fluctuations in single molecule magnetic tweezers |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4180755?pdf=render |
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