Scientists can use optical tweezers to trap beads and catch a filament with motor proteins bound to it in-between. This filament can then be manipulated by moving the beads, while the force and extension are measured. Combining optical tweezers with simultaneous fluorescence measurements allows visualizing the binding location of fluorescently-tagged motors along the filaments. With optical tweezers – fluorescence microscopy you can:
- Visualize and track the kinetics of molecular motors along cytoskeletal proteins and determine their activity, processive motion, binding kinetics and thermodynamic properties
- Investigate discrete steps and the subsequent mechanics of motor proteins at the single-molecule level
- Perform experiments under biologically relevant conditions and highly crowded environments and link the in vitro experiment with the in vivo situation
- Study motor motion at different ATP, salt, small molecule and biologics concentrations within a single experiment
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Optical Tweezers and Fluorescence Microscopy
Optical Tweezers and Fluorescence Microscopy
