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. 2006 Mar 29;32(2):73–95. doi: 10.1007/s10867-005-9002-8

Do Femtonewton Forces Affect Genetic Function? A Review

Seth Blumberg 1,✉, Matthew W Pennington 1, Jens-Christian Meiners 1
PMCID: PMC2647000  PMID: 19669453

Abstract

Protein-Mediated DNA looping is intricately related to gene expression. Therefore any mechanical constraint that disrupts loop formation can play a significant role in gene regulation. Polymer physics models predict that less than a piconewton of force may be sufficient to prevent the formation of DNA loops. Thus, it appears that tension can act as a molecular switch that controls the much larger forces associated with the processive motion of RNA polymerase. Since RNAP can exert forces over 20 pN before it stalls, a ‘substrate tension switch’ could offer a force advantage of two orders of magnitude. Evidence for such a mechanism is seen in recent in vitro micromanipulation experiments. In this article we provide new perspective on existing theory and experimental data on DNA looping in vitro and in vivo. We elaborate on the connection between tension and a variety of other intracellular mechanical constraints including sequence specific curvature and supercoiling. In the process, we emphasize that the richness and versatility of DNA mechanics opens up a whole new paradigm of gene regulation to explore.

Keywords: DNA, Mechanics, Looping, Tension

Abbreviations:

WLC

Wormlike Chain

SM

Sankararaman and Marko Model

BTM

Blumberg, Tkachenko and Meiners Model

SY

Shimada and Yamakawa Model

Contributor Information

Seth Blumberg, Email: sblumber@umich.edu.

Matthew W. Pennington, Email: mpenning@umich.edu

Jens-Christian Meiners, Email: meiners@umich.edu.

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