Single Molecule Analysis Methods and Protocols
Life scientists believe that life is driven, directed, and shaped by biomolecules working on their own or in concert. It is only in the last few decades that technological breakthroughs in sensitive fluorescence microscopy and single-molecule manipulation
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M O L E C U L A R B I O L O G Y TM
Series Editor John M. Walker School of Life Sciences University of Hertfordshire Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL10 9AB, UK
For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/7651
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Single Molecule Analysis Methods and Protocols
Edited by
Erwin J.G. Peterman and Gijs J.L. Wuite Department of Physics and Astronomy, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Editors Erwin J.G. Peterman Department of Physics and Astronomy VU University Amsterdam Amsterdam, The Netherlands [email protected]
Gijs J.L. Wuite Department of Physics and Astronomy VU University Amsterdam Amsterdam, The Netherlands [email protected]
ISSN 1064-3745 e-ISSN 1940-6029 ISBN 978-1-61779-281-6 e-ISBN 978-1-61779-282-3 DOI 10.1007/978-1-61779-282-3 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: 2011935030 ª Springer ScienceþBusiness Media, LLC 2011 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Humana Press, c/o Springer ScienceþBusiness Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Humana press is a part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface Life scientists have been brought up for ages with the idea that life is driven, directed, and shaped by biomolecules, working on their own or in concert. Only since a decade of two to three, it has been possible to study the properties of molecules in ultimate isolation: individual molecules. Technical breakthroughs in the field of sensitive fluorescence microscopy have made it possible to observe single fluorescent molecules and measure their properties. Other researchers have developed optical tweezers into a method to measure the mechanic properties of single molecules. Around the same time, atomic force microscopy has been developed, with a spatial resolution good enough to resolve single biomolecules. Together, these techniques (and several other ones) have been applied more and more to the study of biologically relevant molecules, such as DNA, DNA-binding proteins, and motor proteins. These single-molecule approaches have led both not only to new views into how biomolecules bring about biology, but also to novel insights in the way physical and statistical principles underlie the behavior and mechanism of biomolecules. By now, single-molecule tools are slowly becoming commonplace in molecular biophysics, biochemistry, and molecular and cell biology. Thanks not only to
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