Quantitative guidelines for force calibration through spectral analysis of magnetic tweezers data.

ABSTRACT: Single-molecule techniques are powerful tools that can be used to study the kinetics and mechanics of a variety of enzymes and their complexes. Force spectroscopy, for example, can be used to control the force applied to a single molecule and thereby facilitate the investigation of real-time nucleic acid-protein interactions. In magnetic tweezers, which offer straightforward control and compatibility with fluorescence measurements or parallel tracking modes, force-measurement typically relies on the analysis of positional fluctuations through video microscopy. Significant errors in force estimates, however, may arise from incorrect spectral analysis of the Brownian motion in the magnetic tweezers. Here we investigated physical and analytical optimization procedures that can be used to impr

SUBMITTER: te Velthuis AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2920648 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature