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Updated: Aug 25, 2026

Nanomanipulation of Single RNA Molecules by Optical Tweezers
Published on: August 20, 2014
Analysis of global conformational transitions in ribozymes
1Department of Biochemistry, MIS/WTB Complex, The University of Dundee, UK.
Abstract:
The nucleolytic ribozymes are small, autonomously folding RNA species that require metal ions to adopt their active conformations. Three of these ribozymes contain one or more helical junctions, that act as key architectural elements in the structures. A combination of comparative gel electrophoresis and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) can be used to analyze the global conformation in solution, and to study the ion-induced folding processes. The FRET approach can also be extended into the time domain to analyze conformational equilibria, and increasingly to the single-molecule level.
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