Figure 13.

Single-molecule translation. (A) A trajectory showing repeating steps as an mRNA is translated while held at constant force of 20 pN. (B) The increase at each step is equal to 2.7 nm, as shown by the pairwise distribution of distances. Three base pairs converted to six single-stranded nucleotides (translation of one codon) gives an increase in extension of 2.7 nm. The figure is modified from Figure 2 in Wen et al. (2008), and is used with permission.