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Skewed Brownian Fluctuations in Single-Molecule Magnetic Tweezers

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  • Daniel R Burnham
  • Iwijn De Vlaminck
  • Thomas Henighan
  • Cees Dekker

Abstract

Measurements in magnetic tweezers rely upon precise determination of the position of a magnetic microsphere. Fluctuations in the position due to Brownian motion allows calculation of the applied force, enabling deduction of the force-extension response function for a single DNA molecule that is attached to the microsphere. The standard approach relies upon using the mean of position fluctuations, which is valid when the microsphere axial position fluctuations obey a normal distribution. However, here we demonstrate that nearby surfaces and the non-linear elasticity of DNA can skew the distribution. Through experiment and simulations, we show that such a skewing leads to inaccurate position measurements which significantly affect the extracted DNA extension and mechanical properties, leading to up to two-fold errors in measured DNA persistence length. We develop a simple, robust and easily implemented method to correct for such mismeasurements.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel R Burnham & Iwijn De Vlaminck & Thomas Henighan & Cees Dekker, 2014. "Skewed Brownian Fluctuations in Single-Molecule Magnetic Tweezers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(9), pages 1-8, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0108271
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108271
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