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Science 27 April 2001:
Vol. 292. no. 5517, pp. 733 - 737
DOI: 10.1126/science.1058498
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Reports

Reversible Unfolding of Single RNA Molecules by Mechanical Force

Jan Liphardt,1 Bibiana Onoa,1 Steven B. Smith,2 Ignacio Tinoco Jr.,1 Carlos Bustamante12*

Here we use mechanical force to induce the unfolding and refolding of single RNA molecules: a simple RNA hairpin, a molecule containing a three-helix junction, and the P5abc domain of the Tetrahymena thermophila ribozyme. All three molecules (P5abc only in the absence of Mg2+) can be mechanically unfolded at equilibrium, and when kept at constant force within a critical force range, are bi-stable and hop between folded and unfolded states. We determine the force-dependent equilibrium constants for folding/unfolding these single RNA molecules and the positions of their transition states along the reaction coordinate.

1 Department of Chemistry and
2 Departments of Physics and Molecular and Cell Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
2 *To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jliphard{at}alice.berkeley.gov or JTLiphardt{at}lbl.gov
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: carlos{at}alice.berkeley.edu

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