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- Title
Magnetic tweezers: a sensitive tool to study DNA and chromatin at the single-molecule level.
- Authors
Zlatanova, Jordanka; Leuba, Sanford H
- Abstract
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.
- Publication
Biochemistry and cell biology = Biochimie et biologie cellulaire, 2003, Vol 81, Issue 3, p151
- ISSN
0829-8211
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1139/o03-048