Mechanics of Elastic Biomolecules

DNA, Chromatin and Chromosomes.- Mechanics and imaging of single DNA molecules.- Stretching and imaging single DNA molecules and chromatin.- Optical tweezers stretching of chromatin.- Micromechanical studies of mitotic chromosomes.- Elastic Invertebrate Muscle Proteins.- Varieties of elastic protein in invertebrate muscles.- Single-molecule measurement of elasticity of Serine-, Glutamate- and Lysine-Rich repeats of invertebrate connectin reveals that its elasticity is caused entropically by random coil structure.- The Elastic Vertebrate Muscle Protein Titin.- Titin as a modular spring: emerging mechanisms for elasticity control by titin in cardiac physiology and pathophysiology.- Species variations in cDNA sequence and exon splicing patterns in the extensible I-band region of cardiac titin: relation to passive tension.- Cardiac titin: molecular basis of elasticity and cellular contribution to elastic and viscous stiffness components in myocardium.- Stretching and visualizing titin molecules: combining structure, dynamics and mechanics.- Unfolding of titin domains studied by molecular dynamics simulations.- Cytoskeletal Proteins.- Mechanical response of single filamin A (ABP-280) molecules and its role in the actin cytoskeleton.- Mechanics of vimentin intermediate filaments.- Extracellular Matrix Proteins.- Mechanics of elastin: molecular mechanism of biological elasticity and its relationship to contraction.- Molecular basis for the extensibility of elastin.- Stretching fibronectin.- Fibrillin-rich microfibrils: elastic biopolymers of the extracellular matrix.