The kinetics of YOYO-1 intercalation into single molecules of double-stranded DNA

► Imaging of single DNA molecules reveals the intercalation kinetics of YOYO-1 binding. ► The second order rate constant indicates that YOYO-1 binding is not diffusion limited. ► YOYO-1 binding extends the length of a DNA molecule by ∼36% indicating that each one interacts with ∼3 base pairs.