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Studies of DNA-Protein Interactions at the Single Molecule Level with Magnetic Tweezers

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Controlled Nanoscale Motion

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Physics ((LNP,volume 711))

Abstract

The development of tools to manipulate and study single biomolecules (DNA, RNA, proteins) has opened a new vista on the study of their mechanical properties and their joint interactions. In this short review we will focus on (single and double stranded) DNA and its interactions with various classes of proteins: structural DNA binding proteins such as gene repressors (e.g., the Galactose Repressor, GalR) and mechano-chemical enzymes that alter the DNA’s topology (topoisomerases), unwind it (helicases) or translocate it (FtsK). We will show how the new tools at our disposal can be used to gain an unprecedented description of the binding properties (on and off-times) and the enzymes’ kinetic constants that are often out of reach of more classical, bulk techniques.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Physique Statistique and Department of Biologie, Ecole Normale Superieure, UMR 8550 CNRS, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231, Paris Cedex 05, France

    J.-F. Allemand, D. Bensimon, G. Charvin, V. Croquette, T. Lionnet & K.C. Neuman

  2. Harvard University Chemistry and Chemical Biology, 12, Oxford street, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA

    G. Lia

  3. Materials Department and Biomolecular Science and Engineering Program, University of California, Materials Dept, UCSB Bldg 503, Rm 1355 Santa Barbara, 93106-5050, CA, USA

    O.A. Saleh

  4. Department of Molecular Physiology, The Tokyo Metropolition Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo, Japan

    H. Yokota

Authors
  1. J.-F. Allemand
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  2. D. Bensimon
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  3. G. Charvin
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  4. V. Croquette
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  5. G. Lia
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  6. T. Lionnet
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  7. K.C. Neuman
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department, University of Oregon, 97403-1274, Eugene, OR, USA

    Heiner Linke

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biomedical Sciences, University of Kalmar, SE-39182, Kalmar, Sweden

    Alf Månsson

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Allemand, JF. et al. (2007). Studies of DNA-Protein Interactions at the Single Molecule Level with Magnetic Tweezers. In: Linke, H., Månsson, A. (eds) Controlled Nanoscale Motion. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 711. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-49522-3_6

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