From genes to protein mechanics on a chip

Nat Methods. 2014 Nov;11(11):1127-1130. doi: 10.1038/nmeth.3099. Epub 2014 Sep 7.

Abstract

Single-molecule force spectroscopy enables mechanical testing of individual proteins, but low experimental throughput limits the ability to screen constructs in parallel. We describe a microfluidic platform for on-chip expression, covalent surface attachment and measurement of single-molecule protein mechanical properties. A dockerin tag on each protein molecule allowed us to perform thousands of pulling cycles using a single cohesin-modified cantilever. The ability to synthesize and mechanically probe protein libraries enables high-throughput mechanical phenotyping.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Clostridium thermocellum / genetics
  • High-Throughput Screening Assays
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques*
  • Microscopy, Atomic Force / methods
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis*
  • Peptide Library
  • Protein Array Analysis / methods*

Substances

  • Peptide Library