Correlating fluorescence microscopy, optical and magnetic tweezers to study single chiral biopolymers such as DNA

Jack W. Shepherd, Sebastien Guilbaud, Zhaokun Zhou, Jamieson A. L. Howard, Matthew Burman, Charley Schaefer, Adam Kerrigan, Clare Steele-King, Agnes Noy and Mark C. Leake ()
Additional contact information
Jack W. Shepherd: University of York
Sebastien Guilbaud: University of York
Zhaokun Zhou: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jamieson A. L. Howard: University of York
Matthew Burman: University of York
Charley Schaefer: University of York
Adam Kerrigan: University of York
Clare Steele-King: University of York
Agnes Noy: University of York
Mark C. Leake: University of York

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Biopolymer topology is critical for determining interactions inside cell environments, exemplified by DNA where its response to mechanical perturbation is as important as biochemical properties to its cellular roles. The dynamic structures of chiral biopolymers exhibit complex dependence with extension and torsion, however the physical mechanisms underpinning the emergence of structural motifs upon physiological twisting and stretching are poorly understood due to technological limitations in correlating force, torque and spatial localization information. We present COMBI-Tweez (Combined Optical and Magnetic BIomolecule TWEEZers), a transformative tool that overcomes these challenges by integrating optical trapping, time-resolved electromagnetic tweezers, and fluorescence microscopy, demonstrated on single DNA molecules, that can controllably form and visualise higher order structural motifs including plectonemes. This technology combined with cutting-edge MD simulations provides quantitative insight into complex dynamic structures relevant to DNA cellular processes and can be adapted to study a range of filamentous biopolymers.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47126-6 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-47126-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47126-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().