The dynamic behaviour of DNA is of fundamental importance to many cellular
processes. One principal characteristic, central to transcription and repli
cation, is the ability of the duplex to "melt". It has recently been shown
that dynamic force spectroscopy provides information about the energetics o
f biomolecular dissociation. We have employed this technique to investigate
the unbinding of single dodecanucleotide molecules. To separate the duplex
to single-stranded DNA, forces ranging from 17 to 40 pN were required over
a range of loading rates. Interpretation of the dependence of melting forc
e on loading rate revealed that the energy barrier to rupture is between 9
and 13 kcal mol(-1) in height and situated 0.58 nm from an intermediate str
uctural state. Thermal melting studies show that, prior to dissociation, th
e oligonucleotide underwent a transition which required between 7 and II kc
al mol(-1) in energy. Through combined dynamic force spectroscopy and therm
al melting studies we show the derivation of an energy landscape to dissoci
ate a 12-mer duplex. Until very recently, this type of information was only
accessible by computational analysis. Additionally, the force spectroscopy
data allow an estimation of the kinetics of duplex formation and melting.