title: Elasticity of globular proteins measured from the ac susceptibility.
abstract: We introduce a new method to measure the elastic constants of globular proteins. Gold nanoparticles, tethered to a gold surface by the protein, are driven by an ac electric field while their displacement is synchronously detected by evanescent wave scattering, yielding the mechanical response function of the macromolecular sample in the frequency domain. We apply the method to measure the stiffening of an enzyme upon binding its substrate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095-1547, USA.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zocchi
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D004548:Elasticity; D004560:Electricity; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D051528:Guanylate Kinases / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D006046:Gold; D004247:DNA; D051528:Guanylate Kinases