title: Mechanical control of Renilla luciferase.
abstract: We report experiments where the activity of the enzyme luciferase from Renilla reniformis is controlled through a DNA spring attached to the enzyme. In the wake of previous work on kinases, these results establish that mechanical stress applied through the DNA springs is indeed a general method for the artificial control of enzymes, and for the quantitative study of mechano-chemical coupling in these molecules. We also show proof of concept of the luciferase construct as a sensitive molecular probe, detecting a specific DNA target sequence in an easy, one-step, homogeneous assay, as well as SNP detection without melting curve analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095-1547, USA. tseng@physics.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Chiao-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zocchi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D049410:Luciferases, Renilla / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015336:Molecular Probe Techniques; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011485:Protein Binding; D048790:Renilla / Q000737:chemistry / Q000201:enzymology*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
chemical_list: D004247:DNA; D049410:Luciferases, Renilla