Single-Molecule Micromanipulation Technology

Single-molecule micromanipulation technology has emerged as a powerful tool to investigate the forces and motions associated with biological molecules and enzymatic activity. The most common single-molecule micromanipulation techniques are magnetic tweezers (MT), optical tweezers (OT) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Single-molecule micromanipulation techniques traditionally have been developed for biophysical applications, but they are being increasingly employed in materials science applications such as rheology and polymer dynamics. Optical tweezers have been applied for detecting structural mechanical properties of biological polymers and dissecting mechano-chemistry of molecular motors. Magnetic tweezers are ideal tools for the study of individual biomolecule, such as DNA topology and topoisomerase. Atomic force microscopy is suitable for investigating receptor–ligand interactions and mechanical unfolding of a single protein molecule.