title: Versatile Quadruple-Trap Optical Tweezers for Dual DNA Experiments.
abstract: Optical manipulation techniques provide researchers the powerful ability to directly move, probe and interrogate molecular complexes. Quadruple optical trapping is an emerging method for optical manipulation and force spectroscopy that has found its primary use in studying dual DNA interactions, but is certainly not limited to DNA investigations. The key benefit of quadruple optical trapping is that two molecular strands can be manipulated independently and simultaneously. The molecular geometries of the strands can thus be controlled and their interactions can be quantified by force measurements. Accurate control of molecular geometry is of critical importance for the analysis of, for example, protein-mediated DNA-bridging, which plays an important role in DNA compaction. Here, we describe the design of a dedicated and robust quadruple optical trapping-instrument. This instrument can be switched straightforwardly to a high-resolution dual trap and it is integrated with microfluidics and single-molecule fluorescence microscopy, making it a highly versatile tool for correlative single-molecule analysis of a wide range of biomolecular systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy and LaserLab, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Iddo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Heller
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy and LaserLab, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Laurens
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy and LaserLab, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Daan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vorselen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy and LaserLab, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Onno D
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Broekmans
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy and LaserLab, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Andreas S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Biebricher
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy and LaserLab, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Graeme A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy and LaserLab, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ineke
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Brouwer
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy and LaserLab, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gijs J L
authors.initials: GJL
authors.lastname: Wuite
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy and LaserLab, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. e.j.g.peterman@vu.nl.
authors.forename: Erwin J G
authors.initials: EJG
authors.lastname: Peterman
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000379:methods; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D052898:Optical Tweezers; D000072760:Single Molecule Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004247:DNA
keywords: Dual DNA manipulation; Fluorescence; Force detection; Microfluidics; Optical trapping; Quadruple-trap optical tweezers; Single-molecule force spectroscopy