Exposed ends and bends attract DNA-cutting enzymes, live imaging reveals

What happened

Using high-speed atomic force microscopy, the team followed individual enzymes as they moved along DNA and found that they repeatedly returned to vulnerable regions before breaking them apart. Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI) at Kanazawa University have directly visualized how enzymes find and break DNA molecules in real time.

The findings reveal how the structure of DNA influences its vulnerability to enzymatic breakdown. The research was led by Richard Wong and his team: Jingge Yang, Yujia Qiu, Keesiang Lim and Toshio Ando.