title: Single-molecule studies of nucleic acid motors.
abstract: Nucleic acid motors comprise a variety of structurally, mechanistically and functionally very different enzymes. These motor proteins have in common the ability to directionally move DNA or RNA, or to move along DNA or RNA using a chemical energy source such as ATP. Recently, it became possible to study the action of a single motor on single DNA or RNA molecules in real time; this has provided unprecedented insight into the behavior and mechanism of these motors. As a result, the past few years have witnessed an enormous increase in such single-molecule studies of a variety of different motor systems. Particular highlights have included the investigation of the sequence-dependent behavior and helical tracking of motors, and the attainment of the ultimate (i.e. single base pair) resolution, which enables the detection of individual single base motor steps.
authors.affiliation: Biotechnological Centre, University of Technology Dresden, Tatzberg 47-51, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Seidel
authors.forename: Cees
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dekker
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000379:methods; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D009696:Nucleic Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D021381:Protein Transport
chemical_list: D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; D009696:Nucleic Acids; D004247:DNA