Anti-cooperative binding governs the mechanics of ethidium-complexed DNA (Biophysical Journal)

DNA intercalators bind nucleic acids by stacking between adjacent base pairs. This causes a considerable elongation of the DNA backbone as well as untwisting of the double helix. In the past years single-molecule mechanical experiments became a common tool to characterize these deformations and to quantify important parameters of the intercalation process. Parameter extraction typically relies on the neighbour-exclusion model where a bound intercalator prevents intercalation into adjacent sites.