Dynamic behavior of protein-DNA interactions
- Reference number
- I06-0240
- Start and end dates
- 070901-121231
- Amount granted
- 3 000 000 SEK
- Administrative organization
- Göteborg University
- Research area
- Life Science Technology
Summary
DNA is the blueprint of all living matter. The integrity as well as transcription of the DNA is performed by a huge number of proteins. If the maintenance of DNA fails this can lead to chromosomal rearrangements and/or cancer. DNA maintenance and transcription are therefore subject to a number of research areas on different levels ranging from studies on humans, through cell cultures and down to single molecule studies, which all complement each other on these subjects. The single-molecule techniques have recently found their use in biology and they have shown that there are a lot of questions that can be answered by using these techniques. Some of these questions are protein target site finding on the DNA, Protein-DNA binding and dynamic studies of the system. This proposal is about single molecule research of DNA-protein interaction in combination with binding studies on a few molecular level. Force, binding efficiency, dynamic behavior and movement tracking are the phenomenon that will be studied on a single molecule or a few molecules level along with traditional bulk techniques. Protein-DNA binding efficiency will be studied using Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and the force of DNA-protein binding will be studied using optical traps. Dynamic behaviors such as protein movement on DNA will be studied using optical traps in combination with advanced imaging techniques and fluorescent labeling of the biomolecules involved in the reaction.