  The dynamic response of prestressed semiflexible biopolymers is characterized
by the propagation and relaxation of tension, which arises due to the near
inextensibility of a stiff backbone. It is coupled to the dynamics of contour
length stored in thermal undulations, but also to the local relaxation of
elongational strain. We present a systematic theory of tension dynamics for
stiff yet extensible wormlike chains. Our results show that even moderate
prestress gives rise to distinct Rouse-like extensibility signatures in the
high-frequency viscoelastic response.
