Other experiments where DNA bend angle was measured
The bend angle distribution, 69° ± 25°, measured in this work is
relatively broad. The λ Cro transcription regulatory protein produces
DNA bending of 69° ± 11°.14 The cellular transcription
factor Oct-1 produces a 42° ± 12° DNA bend angle.15Broad distributions with a standard deviation in the neighborhood of our
work were found when the DNA repair protein MutS binds to homoduplex and
heteroduplex DNA.13 In a study involving the binding
of the drug cisplatin to DNA,16 simulations of 300 bp
DNA were conducted with an adjustable bend angle. AFM-like images of
simulated DNA molecules show that DNA mostly has a curvilinear shape for
0° induced bend angles, as we saw in our experiments. When a bend angle
is introduced, a range of angles is seen due to thermal and mechanical
effects. For a persistence length of 50 nm and a bend angle of 60°,
2-3% of the structures are straight. In our experiment, we found a
higher percentage of straight structures suggesting that the protein
became unbound from the DNA due to sample preparation methods.