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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Nov 28.
Published in final edited form as: DNA Repair (Amst). 2014 May 10;20:2–13. doi: 10.1016/j.dnarep.2014.02.003

Fig. 6.

Fig. 6

Optical tweezer strategies in the study of DNA-protein interactions. Focused lasers (red cones) are used to trap beads (green) to which DNA can be attached. In (A) the other end of the bead is tethered to a surface permitting various amounts of tension to be applied to the DNA. (B) DNA is caught between two beads in a dumbbell configuration. This strategy allows for full three-dimensional position control of the bead, in addition to variable tension. (C) The DNA end shown in (A) can be brought toward the surface of a coverslip permitting TIRF illumination of the DNA for direct visualization of protein–DNA interactions.