Space-resolved manipulation of biological macromolecules

Masao Washizu; Osamu Kurosawa; Seiichi Suzuki; Nobuo Shimamoto

doi:10.1117/12.232134

9 February 1996 Space-resolved manipulation of biological macromolecules

Masao Washizu, Osamu Kurosawa, Seiichi Suzuki, Nobuo Shimamoto

Proceedings Volume 2716, Smart Structures and Materials 1996: Smart Materials Technologies and Biomimetics; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.232134
Event: 1996 Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials, 1996, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

In conventional biochemistry, there has been no method to allow space-resolved access to a particular position in a molecule. This is due partly to a lack of the molecular manipulation method. A chain like macromolecule, such as DNA, takes randomly coiled conformation and fluctuates due to Brownian motion. Hence, to allow external access, it has to be immobilized with a proper conformation first. The authors use high-intensity high-frequency electric field (less than or equal to 10⁶ V/m, approximately equals 1 MHz) created in micro-machined electrodes to (1) stretch a flexible molecule, (2) align parallel to the field, and/or (3) position onto a substrate either electrically or with the use of molecular bindings. It has been shown that DNA is stretched to full length (0.34 nm per base) under the electrostatic field. Once stretch-and- positioned, position-dependent modifications become possible. It is demonstrated that (1) a stretched DNA can be cut at arbitrary position by ultra-violet laser beam, (2) local temperature rise created by a laser manipulated-and-heated microbead induces pin-point conformational change of a bacterial flagellum ('tail'). The spatial resolution enabled by the electrostatic stretch-and-positioning will find applications not only in biochemical assays, in particular DNA sequencing, but also in the basic research of biomolecular interactions.

Citation Download Citation

Masao Washizu, Osamu Kurosawa, Seiichi Suzuki, and Nobuo Shimamoto "Space-resolved manipulation of biological macromolecules", Proc. SPIE 2716, Smart Structures and Materials 1996: Smart Materials Technologies and Biomimetics, (9 February 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.232134

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