Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Johnson & Johnson

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 1 October 1999:
Vol. 286. no. 5437, p. 9
DOI: 10.1126/science.286.5437.9p
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

This Week in Science

M. Grandbois et al. (Reports, 12 Mar., p. 1727) covalently attached polysaccharide molecules to surfaces and then used an atomic force microscope to pull the molecules off. From an analysis of the rupture events, they concluded that changes in force with extension corresponded to progressive rupture of surface attachments, which allowed a determination of Si-C bond strengths.

A. Stasiak et al. comment that the authors' interpretation is unlikely and suggest instead that "the observed peaks preceding the final breakage could be the 'signatures' of progressive tightening of complex knots in the polysaccharide chain."In response, although H. Gaub et al. "agree that knotted polymers will break at lower forces than unentangled ones," they present a reanalysis of their data which indicates that only about 5% of the events they observed might reflect tightening of knots.The full text of these comments can be seen at www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/286/5437/11a




ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)