Estimating the persistence length of a worm-like chain molecule from force-extension measurements

We describe a simple computation of the worm-like chain model and obtain th e corresponding force-versus-extension curve. We propose an improvement to the Marko and Siggia interpolation formula of Bustamante et al (Science 199 4, 265:1599-1600) that is useful for fitting experimental data. We apply it to the experimental elasticity curve of single DNA molecules. Finally, we present a tool to study the agreement between the worm-like chain model and experiments.