INS seminars 50: Revealing the Complexity and Subtlety in Biology by Single-Molecule Detection and Manipulation (Shixin Liu, Jan.08, 2013)

INS seminars 50

Abstract:

The development of experimental techniques that are capable of following the reaction trajectories of individual biomolecules or molecular complexes has revolutionized the way we understand biology. There exist two major families of single-molecule methods, fluorescence-based detection and force-based manipulation. I will present two systems that have been dissected in detail by these methods, namely genome packaging in bacteriophage phi29 and reverse transcription in human HIV. These studies illustrate some of the design principles which allow enzymes to obtain multiplex functionality and in the meantime their activities to be precisely controlled.