Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access published online on November 21, 2007
Nucleic Acids Research, doi:10.1093/nar/gkm1014
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Molecular Biology |
Measurement of the salt-dependent stabilization of partially open DNA by Escherichia coli SSB protein
Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +1-617-495-2910; Fax: +1-617-496-5144; Email: prentiss{at}fas.harvard.edu
Received August 17, 2007. Revised October 23, 2007. Accepted October 23, 2007.
The rezipping force of two complementary DNA strands under tension has been measured in the presence of Escherichia coli single-stranded-binding proteins under salt conditions ranging from 10– to 400 mM NaCl. The effectiveness of the binding protein in preventing rezipping is strongly dependent on salt concentration and compared with the salt dependence in the absence of the protein. At concentrations less than 50 mM NaCl, the protein prevents complete rezipping of 
-phage on the 2-s timescale of the experiment, when the ssDNA is under tensions as low as 3.5 ± 1 pN. For salt concentrations greater than 200 mM NaCl, the protein inhibits rezipping but cannot block rezipping when the tension is reduced below 6 ± 1.8 pN. This change in effectiveness as a function of salt concentration may correspond to salt-dependent changes in binding modes that were previously observed in bulk assays.