Hairpins under tension: RNA versus DNA

Nucleic Acids Research
Mathilde Bercy, Ulrich Bockelmann

Abstract

We use optical tweezers to control the folding and unfolding of individual DNA and RNA hairpins by force. Four hairpin molecules are studied in comparison: two DNA and two RNA ones. We observe that the conformational dynamics is slower for the RNA hairpins than for their DNA counterparts. Our results indicate that structures made of RNA are dynamically more stable. This difference might contribute to the fact that DNA and RNA play fundamentally different biological roles in spite of chemical similarity.

References

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Citations

Jan 6, 2018·ELife·Steven C StruttJennifer A Doudna
May 20, 2017·RNA·Dustin B RitchieMichael T Woodside
Mar 13, 2021·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Lin LiYanhui Liu

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
force measurements
PCR
in vitro transcription
force measurement
nuclear magnetic resonance

Software Mentioned

Labview
mfold

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