Optical Tweezers to Investigate the Structure and Energetics of Single-Stranded DNA-Binding Protein-DNA Complexes

Methods Mol Biol. 2021:2281:273-288. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1290-3_17.

Abstract

Optical tweezers enable the isolation and mechanical manipulation of individual nucleoprotein complexes. Here, we describe how to use this technique to interrogate the mechanical properties of individual protein-DNA complexes and extract information about their overall structural organization.

Keywords: Optical tweezers; Protein-DNA organization; SSB; Single-molecule manipulation; Single-stranded DNA.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • DNA Replication
  • DNA, Single-Stranded / chemistry
  • DNA, Single-Stranded / metabolism*
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / chemistry
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Mitochondrial Proteins / chemistry
  • Mitochondrial Proteins / metabolism*
  • Molecular Conformation
  • Nucleoproteins / chemistry*
  • Optical Tweezers

Substances

  • DNA, Single-Stranded
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Mitochondrial Proteins
  • Nucleoproteins
  • SSBP1 protein, human