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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Ultrahigh-resolution optical trap with single-fluorophore sensitivity

Matthew J Comstock, Taekjip Ha & Yann R Chemla

We present a single-molecule instrument that combines a time-shared ultrahigh-resolution dual optical trap interlaced with a confocal fluorescence microscope. In a demonstration experiment, we observed individual single fluorophore–labeled DNA oligonucleotides to bind and unbind complementary DNA suspended between two trapped beads. Simultaneous with the single-fluorophore detection, we clearly observed coincident angstrom-scale changes in tether extension. Fluorescence readout allowed us to determine the duplex melting rate as a function of force. The new instrument will enable the simultaneous measurement of angstrom-scale mechanical motion of individual DNA-binding proteins (for example, single-base-pair stepping of DNA translocases) along with the detection of properties of fluorescently labeled protein (for example, internal configuration).

DOI

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