Study of folding Kinetics of RNA by Optical tweezers (OT) (CAT#: STEM-MB-1307-WXH)

Name: Study of folding Kinetics of RNA by Optical tweezers (OT)
SKU: STEM-MB-1307-WXH
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Introduction

Folding of the RNA is highly hierarchical, i.e., the primary sequence of an RNA molecule forms secondary structural elements through basepairs, which subsequently fold to tertiary domains/structures, usually through long-range interactions. Moreover, several domains from a large RNA can fold independently and then assemble into more complex structures. RNA folding is strongly affected by environmental factors, including magnesium ions.

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Principle Applications Procedure Materials

Principle

Optical tweezers (originally called single-beam gradient force trap) are scientific instruments that use a highly focused laser beam to hold and move microscopic and sub-microscopic objects like atoms, nanoparticles and droplets, in a manner similar to tweezers. If the object is held in air or vacuum without additional support, it can be called optical levitation.
The laser light provides an attractive or repulsive force (typically on the order of piconewtons), depending on the relative refractive index between particle and surrounding medium. Levitation is possible if the force of the light counters the force of gravity. The trapped particles are usually micron-sized, or even smaller. Dielectric and absorbing particles can be trapped, too.

Applications

• Optical tweezers are used in biology and medicine (for example to grab and hold a single bacterium, a cell like a sperm cell or a blood cell, or a molecule like DNA).
• Nanoengineering and nanochemistry (to study and build materials from single molecules).
• Quantum optics and quantum optomechanics (to study the interaction of single particles with light).