Hansma H G, Pietrasanta L I, Golan R, Sitko J C, Viani M B, Paloczi G T, Smith B L, Thrower D, Hansma P K
a Department of Physics , University of California , Santa Barbara , CA , 93106.
J Biomol Struct Dyn. 2000;17 Suppl 1:271-5. doi: 10.1080/07391102.2000.10506631.
Abstract Seven recent highlights are presented from atomic force microscopy (AFM) of DNA in this lab. The first two involve advances in the observation of enzymatic reactions in near-physiological solutions. E. coli RNA polymerase was observed to process along its DNA template in a series of time-lapse images [S. Kasas, et al., Biochemistry 36, 461 (1997)], and a new small-cantilever atomic force microscope (AFM) imaged DNA degradation by DNase I at rates as fast as two seconds per image. The next five highlights involve structural observations of DNA and DNA-protein complexes, including DNA condensed for gene delivery, sequence-dependent DNA condensation, an AFM assay for RNA polymerase, and AFM evidence for a yeast kinetochore complex that may be involved in holding together sister chromatids during cell division.
