Abstract
Scientists at the University of California (Berkley, CA, USA) have developed a technique to study the folding and unfolding of single RNA molecules using mechanical force. Carlos Bustamante and colleagues attached each end of three different types of RNA molecules: a simple RNA hairpin, an RNA molecule containing a three-helix junction, and the P5abc domain of the Tetrahymena thermophila ribozyme, to a microscopic plastic bead [Science (2001) 292, 733–737]. A piezoelectric actuator was then used to supply the force needed to unfold the molecule and the intensity of this force was measured by a laser beam. The rates of folding and unfolding of the single RNA molecules, and the positions of their transitions states along the reaction coordinate, were thus determined. AR(http://www.hhmi.org/news/bustamante.html).
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