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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Apr 4.
Published in final edited form as: Methods. 2013 Apr 4;60(2):131–141. doi: 10.1016/j.ymeth.2013.03.029

Fig. 10.

Fig. 10

DNA stretching experiment demonstrating one pitfall of non-specific attachment. (A) Two records of DNA elasticity. One record (blue) shows the canonical DNA elasticity, including the overstretching transition. The other curve (red) shows unwanted force ruptures caused by instability of the attachment point. The pink and blue curves are data smoothed to 100 Hz. (B) Schematic showing one likely cause for these artifacts. Because the molecule is non-specifically adsorbed, it can be attached to the surface at multiple points. At first, one attachment point is bearing the force, but it lets go, and the molecule is then being pulled from a second attachment point, changing the effective contour length of the molecule.