Optical Pushing: A Tool for Parallelized Biomolecule Manipulation.

ABSTRACT: The ability to measure and manipulate single molecules has greatly advanced the field of biophysics. Yet, the addition of more single-molecule tools that enable one to measure in a parallel fashion is important to diversify the questions that can be addressed. Here we present optical pushing (OP), a single-molecule technique that is used to exert forces on many individual biomolecules tethered to microspheres using a single collimated laser beam. Forces ranging from a few femtoNewtons to several picoNewtons can be applied with a submillisecond response time. To determine forces exerted on the tethered particles by the laser, we analyzed their measured Brownian motion using, to our knowledge, a newly derived analytical model and numerical simulations. In the model, Brownian rotation of the

SUBMITTER: Sitters G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4805865 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature