Existing DNA manipulation techniques use chemicals, but long strands can often break.

The new process, developed by Kyohei Terao from Kyoto University, and his colleagues from the University of Tokyo, uses microscopic bobbins and hooks controlled by lasers to delicately hold and straighten a DNA strand.

The bobbins and hooks are made from a polymer called SU-8 photoresist that doesn't bind to DNA, thereby preventing damage.

The laser acts in effect as set of 'optical tweezers'.

"When a DNA molecule is manipulated and straightened by microhooks and bobbins, the gene location can be determined easily with high-spatial resolution," said Terao.

The technique isn't very different traditional sewing and knitting, apart from the scale.

"The microhooks and bobbins were inspired by manipulation of thread using our fingers," Terao said.

The breakthough was described as 'an excellent idea to fabricate unique microtools that enables us to manipulate a single giant DNA molecule' by Yoshinobu Baba, a researcher into biological microdevices at Nagoya University, Japan.

He believes that the process will eventually be useful for DNA sequencing and molecular electronics, amongst other applications.

Other scientists in the field also welcomed the development, but noted that real-world applications for the technique are a long way off.

"This is an impressive piece of microengineering," said Edwin Cuppen of the Netherlands Institute for Developmental Biology in Utrecht.

"However, relevant applications are still pretty far down the road -- there will be a major challenge for applying this to complex genomes such as those of vertebrates and man."