Magnetic Tweezers (MT) Technology

Magnetic tweezers (MT) are a powerful tool that uses a gradient of magnetic field to manipulate single DNA or RNA molecules, allows probing the mechanical properties of nucleic acids including DNA unwinding bending and elasticity, activity of DNA topoisomerases, DNA condensation, and functions of chromatin remodeling enzymes, DNA helicases and translocases, RNA polymerase, restriction endonucleases. Magnetic tweezers can also be used for several of the applications that do not focus on DNA, such as studies of protein folding, rotating protein assemblies, cellular cortical stiffness, cellular mechanotransduction processes and intracellular transport.