title: Optical tweezers stretching of chromatin.
abstract: Recently significant success has emerged from exciting research involving chromatin stretching using optical tweezers. These experiments, in which a single chromatin fibre is attached by one end to a micron-sized bead held in an optical trap and to a solid surface or second bead via the other end, allows manipulation and force detection at a single-molecule level. Through force-induced stretching of chromatin, mechanical properties, specific intermolecular bond strengths and DNA-protein association and dissociation kinetics have been determined. These studies will be extremely fruitful in terms of understanding the function of chromatin structure and its dynamics within the cell.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics and MESA Research Institute, University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. l.h.pope@tn.utwente.nl
authors.forename: Lisa H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Pope
authors.forename: Martin L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bennink
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Greve
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002843:Chromatin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D004548:Elasticity; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D007834:Lasers; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D009707:Nucleosomes