Diffusion and segmental dynamics of the double-stranded -phage DNA polymer are quantitatively studied over the transition range from stiff to semiflexible chains. Spectroscopy of fluorescence fluctuations of single-end fluorescently labeled monodisperse DNA fragments unambiguously shows that doublestranded DNA in the length range of 10 2 -2 10 4 base pairs behaves as a semiflexible polymer with segmental dynamics controlled by hydrodynamic interactions. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.258101 PACS numbers: 87.14.Gg, 82.35.Lr, 87.15.He, 87.15.Vv The dynamic behavior of individual macromolecules in solution is governed by chain connectivity and hydrodynamic interactions [1]. Understanding polymer dynamics and quantitative verification of polymer theories requires detailed information on segmental motion of individual polymer molecules. However, the classical experimental techniques, such as dynamic light scattering (DLS) or transient electric birefringence (TEB), predominantly deliver information on large-scale shape fluctuations of macromolecules, and development of new experimental approaches providing detailed information on internal dynamics of individual molecules is of high importance.Precise experiments in polymer physics are impossible without well-defined monodisperse polymer samples covering a wide range of molecular weights. The recent progress in molecular biotechnology resulted in a variety of techniques to produce monodisperse DNA fragments, which stimulated the use of DNA as a model compound in studies of polymer dynamics in solution [2]. Doublestranded DNA (dsDNA) is a biopolymer characterized by a large persistence length l p 50 nm [3]. As a result, dsDNA fragments exhibit rodlike, semiflexible, or even flexible polymer behavior, depending on their length. Thus, simple generic models of polymer dynamics [1] are not expected to provide a quantitative description of dsDNA behavior, and more advanced models accounting for the persistence of the polymer chain [4] are required.The dynamics of dsDNA in solution has been a subject of a number of experimental investigations carried out by various techniques, including DLS [5], single-molecule fluorescence microscopy [6], electrophoresis [7], and TEB [8]. Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) [9], a single-molecule technique that can provide more detailed information on the macromolecular dynamics than the classical ensemble-based methods, has been recently applied to investigation of DNA in solution [10 -12], which has lead to a controversy whether dsDNA dynamics in dilute solution is controlled by hydrodynamic interactions [10,12] or not [11]. Apart from this controversy, for different reasons, none of these FCS-based experiments produced parameters of DNA dynamics. Generally, to the best of our knowledge, no experimental studies were published so far where diffusion and intramolecular dynamics of dsDNA have been simultaneously investigated over the transition range from stiff to semiflexible chains. In the present Letter, we fill this gap and car...