生物化学技术

Optical tweezers have proven a useful tool for exploring the structure and function of individual molecules, such as proteins, DNA, and RNA. The ability to unfold and refold biological molecules has provided novel insights that complement and go beyond traditional biochemical and struc ...

Transcription factors mediate the formation of nucleoprotein complexes that are critical for efficient regulation of epigenetic switches. In these complexes, DNA is frequently bent or looped by the protein; other times, strong interactions lead the DNA to fully wrap the regulatory pr ...

Optical tweezers are a means to manipulate objects with light. With the technique, microscopically small objects can be held and steered while forces on the trapped objects can be accurately measured and exerted. Optical tweezers can typically obtain a nanometer spatial resolution, a pic ...

Magnetic tweezers provide a versatile tool enabling the application of force and torque on individual biomolecules. Magnetic tweezers are uniquely suited to the study of DNA topology and protein–DNA interactions that modify DNA topology. Perhaps due to its presumed simplicity, magn ...

To broaden our knowledge on virus structure and function, a profound insight into their mechanical properties is required. Nanoindentation measurements with an atomic force microscope (AFM) are increasingly being performed to probe such material properties. This single-part ...

Over the past few years, atomic force microscopy (AFM) became a prominent tool to study the mechanical properties of proteins and protein interactions on a single-molecule level. AFM together with other mechanical, single-molecule manipulating techniques (Bustamante et al., Nat Rev M ...

Direct imaging is invaluable for understanding the mechanism of complex genome transactions where proteins work together to organize, transcribe, replicate, and repair DNA. Scanning (or atomic) force microscopy is an ideal tool for this, providing 3D information on molecular struc ...

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an invaluable tool not only to obtain high-resolution topographical images, but also to determine certain physical properties of specimens, such as their mechanical properties and composition. In addition to the wide range of applications, from mater ...

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), implemented in microscopy, relies on performing an autocorrelation of the time fluctuating intensity arising from individual molecules diffusing through a confocal volume. It allows us to investigate a large variety of dynamic pr ...

Stretching of DNA in nanoscale confinement allows for direct visualization of the genetic contents of the DNA on the single DNA molecule level. DNA stretched in nanoscale confinement also allows for studies of DNA–protein interactions and DNA polymer physics in confined environments. ...

Single-molecule imaging enables biophysical measurements devoid of ensemble averaging, gives enhanced spatial resolution beyond the optical diffraction limit, and enables superresolution reconstruction of structures beyond the diffraction limit. This work summar ...

Telomeres are specialized nucleoprotein structures located at eukaryotic chromosomal termini, which are required for chromosome stability and are maintained by a reverse transcriptase named telomerase. Budding yeast has served as an extremely useful model system for analyz ...

G-quadruplexes are noncanonical secondary structures formed in DNA sequences containing consecutive runs of guanines. DNA G-quadruplexes have recently emerged as attractive cancer therapeutic targets. It has been shown that the 3′ G-rich single-stranded overhangs of human te ...

Telomerase is present in most human cancers, and proliferative stem cells including germline cells. Telomerase plays an essential role in tumorigenesis by maintaining/elongating telomeric DNA, and thus preventing the telomere shortening that results in replicative senesce ...

Telomeres terminate in 3′ single-stranded G-overhangs that function in telomere end protection and telomerase action. An accurate measurement of overhang length is challenging due to the presence of many kilobases of double-stranded telomere DNA. Here, a simple method is described t ...

Both telomere length and telomere G-tail length are altered in human diseases such as cancer and �age-related disease. While most methods for the measurement of G-tail and telomere length require electrophoresis, centrifugation, radioisotope labeling, and autoradiography, G-t ...

The implementation of quantitative approaches in telomere chromosome-oriented FISH (telomeric CO-FISH) allows the assessment of the relative efficiency of lagging versus leading strand telomere replication and thus provides information on the implicated mechanisms. He ...

Length is a functional parameter of telomeres, the nucleoprotein structures that protect chromosome ends. The availability of highly specific, high-affinity probes for telomeric repeated sequences allowed the development of quantitative approaches aimed at measuring tel ...

Telomeres play an important role in ensuring the integrity of the genome. Telomere shortening can lead to the loss of genetic information and trigger DNA damage responses. Cultured mammalian cells have served as critical model systems for studying the function of telomere binding protei ...

Telomeres are ends of chromosomes that play an important part in the biology of eukaryotic cells. Through the coordinated action of the telomerase and networks of other proteins and factors, the length and integrity of telomeres are maintained to prevent telomere dysfunction that has been l ...