Direct and precise length measurement of single, stretched DNA fragments by dynamic molecular combing and STED nanoscopy.

A combination of DNA stretching method and super-resolution nanoscopy allows an accurate and precise measurement of the length of DNA fragments ranging widely in size from 117 to 23,130 bp. BstEII- and HindIII-treated λDNA fragments were stained with an intercalating dye and then linearly stretched on a coverslip by dynamic molecular combing. The image of individual DNA fragments was obtained by stimulated emission depletion nanoscopy. For DNA fragments longer than ∼1000 bp, the measured lengths of DNA fragments were consistently within ∼0.5 to 1.0 % of the reference values, raising the possibility of this method in a wide range of applications including facile detection for copy number variations and trinucleotide repeat disorder.