text: "Using these simple design rules we are able to create DNA structures that fold and unfold at a specifically desired temperature." "By adding optical reporters to these DNA structures, we can therefore create 5 nm-wide thermometers that produce an easily detectable signal as a function of temperature," adds Arnaud Desrosiers, co-author of this study.
  "These plants fold their leaves to protect themselves from dry conditions and cold, and unfold to get the rain they need to grow.
  The I27 domains have been shown to unfold at forces of ~200pN and produce an increase in contour length ([DELTA]Lc) of ~29 [+ or -] 8 nm upon unfolding [30].