Fig. 1: Conceptual overview.
From: High-throughput single-molecule quantification of individual base stacking energies in nucleic acids
a Model of a DNA duplex66 with enlarged frame showing stacked adjacent bases. b Design of two duplexes differing by a single-base stacking interaction. c Free-energy diagram of a DNA duplex with and without a terminal base stack. The base stack primarily increases the activation energy from EA1 to EA2, with the difference representing the free energy of the single terminal base stack, ΔGstack. d External force lowers the activation barriers and prevents rebinding, causing exponential dissociation that can be experimentally measured and used to calculate stacking free energy.
