Blázquez-Castro Alfonso, Fernández-Piqueras José, Santos Javier
Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Genome Dynamics and Function Program, Genome Decoding Unit, Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center (CBMSO), CSIC-Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2020 Sep 18;8:580937. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.580937. eCollection 2020.
Light can be employed as a tool to alter and manipulate matter in many ways. An example has been the implementation of optical trapping, the so called optical tweezers, in which light can hold and move small objects with 3D control. Of interest for the Life Sciences and Biotechnology is the fact that biological objects in the size range from tens of nanometers to hundreds of microns can be precisely manipulated through this technology. In particular, it has been shown possible to optically trap and move genetic material (DNA and chromatin) using optical tweezers. Also, these biological entities can be severed, rearranged and reconstructed by the combined use of laser scissors and optical tweezers. In this review, the background, current state and future possibilities of optical tweezers and laser scissors to manipulate, rearrange and alter genetic material (DNA, chromatin and chromosomes) will be presented. Sources of undesirable effects by the optical procedure and measures to avoid them will be discussed. In addition, first tentative approaches at cellular-level genetic and organelle surgery, in which genetic material or DNA-carrying organelles are extracted out or introduced into cells, will be presented.
光可以作为一种工具，以多种方式改变和操纵物质。一个例子是光镊技术的应用，即所谓的光学镊子，在这种技术中，光可以对小物体进行三维控制，使其保持并移动。生命科学和生物技术领域感兴趣的是，通过这项技术可以精确操纵尺寸范围从几十纳米到几百微米的生物物体。特别是，已经证明可以使用光镊对遗传物质（DNA和染色质）进行光学捕获和移动。此外，通过结合使用激光剪刀和光镊，可以对这些生物实体进行切割、重新排列和重建。在这篇综述中，将介绍光镊和激光剪刀在操纵、重新排列和改变遗传物质（DNA、染色质和染色体）方面的背景、现状和未来可能性。还将讨论光学操作产生不良影响的来源以及避免这些影响的措施。此外，还将介绍细胞水平上的遗传和细胞器手术的初步尝试方法，即在这些手术中，将遗传物质或携带DNA的细胞器提取出来或引入细胞中。
