Fig. 5: Force-induced DNA-RNA hybrid TMSD and free-energy landscapes at Favg,½ and zero load.
From: Single-molecule force spectroscopy of toehold-mediated strand displacement
A Average nearest neighbor free energy per base pair for DNA, RNA, and DNA-RNA hybrid. B Schematic of force-induced DNA invading RNA process. DNA trigger invasion to RNA hairpin is unfavorable due to the free-energy difference between RNA-RNA stem and DNA-RNA strand. The free-energy landscape (black) can be tilted by force, resulting in a flat free-energy landscape (gray) with equal forward/backward invasion rates. C Force versus time trace of DNA-RNA hybrid TMSD. Each intermediate state during the branch migration process is distinguished by color. TB: toehold bound (dark blue) DR1, 2, 3: intermediates 1 (yellow), 2 (light blue), 3 (green), FI: fully invaded (brown). D Extracted free-energy profiles: almost flat landscape at 10.6 pN and uphill landscape at zero load. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
