Abstract
Recent advances in single-molecule techniques allow the application of force to an individual biomolecule whilst simultaneously monitoring its response using fluorescent probes. The effects of applied mechanical load on single-enzyme turnovers, biomolecular interactions and conformational changes can now be studied with nanometer precision and millisecond time resolution.
Highlights
A key facet of future single-molecule experiments will be direct manipulation of a biomolecule whilst the outcome is simultaneously observed
Lang et al [8] carried out such an experiment using an optical trap to apply calibrated forces to a single DNA molecule while monitoring optical output from a reporter fluorophore
Dynamic information from a single molecule, obtained by observing its fluctuations about equilibrium, allows kinetics to be derived without the need to synchronize an entire population into a non-equilibrium state
Summary
A key facet of future single-molecule experiments will be direct manipulation of a biomolecule whilst the outcome is simultaneously observed. Lang et al [8] carried out such an experiment using an optical trap to apply calibrated forces to a single DNA molecule while monitoring optical output from a reporter fluorophore. A single-molecule experiment is capable of detecting subpopulations or intermediates that may be impossible to observe by measuring the properties of an ensemble.
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