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Science 9 July 2004:
Vol. 305. no. 5681, pp. 188 - 190
DOI: 10.1126/science.1100603
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Perspectives

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY:
Unraveling DNA Condensation with Optical Tweezers

Xiaowei Zhuang

Optical tweezers have revealed remarkable molecular details about cellular events, ranging from the movement of protein motors along molecular tracks to the unfolding pathways of RNA. In her Perspective, Zhuang introduces us to a new study (Case et al.) in which optical tweezers are used to elucidate how condensin proteins help DNA to take on the condensed form that is essential for proper cell division.

The author is in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. E-mail: zhuang{at}chemistry.harvard.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
A-tract clusters may facilitate DNA packaging in bacterial nucleoid.
M. Y. Tolstorukov, K. M. Virnik, S. Adhya, and V. B. Zhurkin (2005)
Nucleic Acids Res. 33, 3907-3918
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