Single-Molecule Optical Tweezers As a Tool for Delineating the Mechanisms of Protein-Processing Mechanoenzymes.

ABSTRACT: Mechanoenzymes convert chemical energy from the hydrolysis of nucleotide triphosphates to mechanical energy for carrying out cellular functions ranging from DNA unwinding to protein degradation. Protein-processing mechanoenzymes either remodel the protein structures or translocate them across cellular compartments in an energy-dependent manner. Optical-tweezer-based single-molecule force spectroscopy assays have divulged information on details of chemo-mechanical coupling, directed motion, as well as mechanical forces these enzymes are capable of generating. In this review, we introduce the working principles of optical tweezers as a single-molecule force spectroscopy tool and assays developed to decipher the properties such as unfolding kinetics, translocation velocities, and step sizes b

SUBMITTER: Mukherjee S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9835622 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature