Figure 1.

Illustration of TGTs and their applications in cell studies. (a) Schematic illustrating a cell adhered to a surface through integrins binding to RGD-labeled TGTs tethered to the surface. When the two strands in a TGT dissociate, the tension transmission pathway disappears. (b) Illustration depicting the tension-dependent strand-dissociation pathway of a TGT through strand-peeling from the ends.³⁰ The force attachment points, indicated by the black dots on the DNA strands, are labeled as P₁ and P₂.