Single-Molecule Studies of Nucleic Acids and Their Proteins

This book is an introduction to the novel physical tools that allow single molecule manipulation and visualisation. It describes the use of these tools to understand the elastic properties of single molecules of DNA and RNA and to study their interactions with the many proteins that process them.

---

This book provides the basis for understanding the elastic properties of nucleic acids (DNA, RNA), the methods used to manipulate them (e.g. optical, magnetic and acoustic tweezers and traps), and how to observe their interactions with proteins (e.g. fluorescence microscopy, FCS, FRET, etc.). It then exemplifies the use of these various methods in the study of three families of DNA enzymes: polymerases, helicases and topoisomerases. The book aims not to be exhaustive, but rather to stimulate the imagination of readers in the application of these single molecule approaches to the study of DNA/RNA and their interactions.