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Article: Dancing DNA: tripping the light fantastic with heredity's master molecules. (using fluorescence microscopy to image the DNA molecule)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- August 3, 1991
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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His work will never win an Emmy, but Japanese biophysicist Mitsuhiro Yanagida nevertheless made television history a decade ago when he captured DNA in a crude black-and-white action video. Borrowing the concepts and camera technology used by astronomers, the Kyoto University scientist became the first to film individual DNA molecules - live. The footage attracted little attention at the time, and Yanagida eventually moved on to other work.
Now several U.S. scientists have adopted his approach to witness the dance of individual DNA molecules as they twirl and snake through gels or bend and stretch in solution. The researchers' success in solving a long-standing ...