IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-57340-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

DNA calorimetric force spectroscopy at single base pair resolution

Author

Listed:
  • P. Rissone

    (Universitat de Barcelona
    Sapienza University of Rome)

  • M. Rico-Pasto

    (Universitat de Barcelona
    The Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology (BIST))

  • S. B. Smith

    (Steven B. Smith Engineering)

  • F. Ritort

    (Universitat de Barcelona
    Secció Física.2a
    Institut de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (IN2UB))

Abstract

DNA hybridization is a fundamental molecular reaction with wide-ranging applications in biotechnology. The knowledge of the temperature dependence of the thermodynamic parameters of duplex formation is crucial for quantitative predictions throughout the DNA stability range. It is commonly assumed that enthalpies and entropies are temperature independent, and heat capacity changes ΔCp equal zero. However, it has been known that this assumption is a poor approximation for a long time. Here, we combine single-DNA mechanical unzipping experiments using a temperature jump optical trap with a tailored statistical analysis to derive the ten heat-capacity change parameters of the nearest-neighbor model. Calorimetric force spectroscopy establishes a groundbreaking approach to studying nucleic acids that can be further extended to chemically modified DNA, RNA, and DNA/RNA hybrid structures.

Suggested Citation

  • P. Rissone & M. Rico-Pasto & S. B. Smith & F. Ritort, 2025. "DNA calorimetric force spectroscopy at single base pair resolution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-57340-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57340-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-57340-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-57340-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-57340-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.