Optically Resonant Nanotweezers

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In this work, we propose a joint project between the Erickson and Chen labs at Cornell University to demonstrate an entirely new approach to the study of weak protein-protein interactions through the development of a single molecule nanophotonic optical trapping and florescence resonant energy transfer (FRET) technique. The molecular system we apply the technique to here is the human copper transport pathway from the intracellular copper chaperone Hah1 to the copper transporting ATPase Wilson disease protein (WDP). Abnormal function of this transport pathway can lead to diseases such as Wilson disease and familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Despite its importance, very limited quantitative information is available on how Hah1 and WDP interact. A major difficulty in obtaining this information is the lack of a single molecule analysis tool which can simultaneously: (1) capture and suspend small molecules in free solution for an indefinite period time (2) effectively "concentrate" the set of molecules of interest to a point where weak protein-protein interactions can be studied and (3) allow rapid modulation of the external environmental conditions (e.g. background ion concentration). The core technological advancement we propose to exploit here in order to meet these requirements is our recently demonstrated optically resonant nanotweezers. The advantage of optical confinement techniques, like optical tweezers, in single molecule analysis is that they can suspend and concentrate targets in dynamically changing background solutions. Fundamentally however, existing optical confinement techniques are limited by diffraction which places a lower bound on the size of dielectric target which can be trapped to about 100nm. We demonstrate here that our planar optically resonant nanotweezers allow us to concentrate the optical energy in such a way that this force can be enhanced so as to trap molecules as small as a few nanometers, bringing us down into the range to make single protein measurements possible. In this work we propose to initially develop the system by trapping a series of larger test proteins (6-8nm) building on our previous work in trapping nucleic acids. After initial development we will conduct a series of single molecule trapping-FRET studies on the Hah1-WDP complex examining how binding interactions respond to changes in Cu1+ ion background concentration. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Metal ions, for example iron and copper, are essential nutrients that can also be toxic if their concentration exceeds the physiological limit. Abnormal function of metal transport molecules can lead to diseases such as Wilson disease, Menkes disease and familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In this work we propose to develop a fundamentally new approach to optically based single molecule analysis and apply it to understanding the function of a series of proteins which control intracellular copper transport.