Stretching and imaging studies of single DNA molecules

DNA molecules were stretched on silanized mica surface with the molecular combing technique, and detected with fluorescence microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Meantime, DNA molecules were stretched with a modified dynamic molecular combing technique and studied with atomic force microscopy. The results indicate that, compared with the dynamic molecular combing technique, the modified dynamic molecular combing technique has advantages of less-sample demand and less contamination to sample; as compared with the molecular combing technique, it has better aligning effect and reproducibility. Combination of this kind of DNA molecular manipulating technique with the single DNA molecule detecting technique by atomic force microscopy and fluorescence microscopy will play an important role in the basic research of molecular dynamics and the application of gene research.