Figure 1.

As a short duplex DNA target attached to a longer main duplex (a, b) undergoes either unzipping (c) or shearing (d) to release single strands (e, f), the curvature and tension in the main duplex decreases. The different parts of each configuration are color-coded as follows: the main duplex is blue and red, whereas the overhangs are composed of green sticky ends that are complementary and come together to form the target duplex and purple linkers that provide mechanical flexibility. Configurations are shown for the main duplex length of 40 bp.