title: Single-molecule fluorescence methods for the study of nucleic acids.
abstract: Single-molecule fluorescence methods and biomechanical tools provide exciting new opportunities to probe biochemical processes in unprecedented detail. The detection and spectroscopy of single fluorophores have recently been used to observe conformational changes and biochemical events involving nucleic acids. A number of fluorescence observables, including localization, quenching, polarization response and fluorescence resonance energy transfer, have been utilized. An exciting new opportunity of combining fluorescence methods and biomechanical tools to study the structural changes and functions of enzymes that participate in nucleic acid metabolism has also arisen.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA. tjha@uiuc.edu
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ha
mesh_terms: D001671:Biochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D005453:Fluorescence; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D009696:Nucleic Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D009696:Nucleic Acids; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA