Magnetic tweezers: a sensitive tool to study DNA and chromatin at the single-molecule level
Magnetic tweezers: a sensitive tool to study DNA and chromatin at the single-molecule level
复制标题
DOI：
10.1139/o03-048
复制
发表时间：
2003-06-01
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Leuba, SH
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Zlatanova, J;Leuba, SH
单分子生物学的出现使人们对生物大分子及其复合物的动态行为有了前所未有的了解。在大量实验中，被无数分子的异步行为所掩盖的意外性质可以被揭示出来;同样重要的是，分子群体中的单个成员往往在其性质上表现出独特的特征。最后，单分子方法使我们能够研究生物大分子在施加张力或扭转下的行为;了解这些分子的机械特性有助于我们了解它们在细胞中的功能。本文综述了磁镊在单分子水平上研究DNA行为的应用。MT可以方便地用于拉伸DNA，并在分子中引入受控水平的超螺旋性，以及高清晰度地跟踪不同类型的拓扑异构酶的作用。它在染色质研究中的潜力也是巨大的，我们将简要介绍我们的第一个染色质结果。
The advent of single-molecule biology has allowed unprecedented insight into the dynamic behavior of biological macromolecules and their complexes. Unexpected properties, masked by the asynchronous behavior of myriads of molecules in bulk experiments, can be revealed; equally importantly, individual members of a molecular population often exhibit distinct features in their properties. Finally, the single-molecule approaches allow us to study the behavior of biological macromolecules under applied tension or torsion; understanding the mechanical properties of these molecules helps us understand how they function in the cell. In this review, we summarize the application of magnetic tweezers (MT) to the study of DNA behavior at the single-molecule level. MT can be conveniently used to stretch DNA and introduce controlled levels of superhelicity into the molecule and to follow to a high definition the action of different types of topoisomerases. Its potential for chromatin studies is also enormous, and we will briefly present our first chromatin results.