DC electric-field-induced DNA stretching for AFM and SNOM studies

An effective method of DNA stretching on mica surfaces is proposed for an extremely low concentration of DNA. The method is based on an electric field and well applied on the concentration range from 57 X 10(-3) to 57 x 10(-6) ng/ml. The stretching exists in a gap between positive and negative electrodes. The difference in the stretching efficiency among the different surfaces of bare mica, Mg2+ soaked mica and AP-mica is discussed. The best performance of the stretching is found from the surface of AP-mica for the same experimental condition of sample concentration and applied voltage. Finally, from a Scanning near-field optical microscope image, it is found that well-stretched DNA molecules have shown more similar optical resolution, which is inferred from an optical fiber probe, itself. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.