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Updated: Aug 24, 2026

Dissecting Mechanoenzymatic Properties of Processive Myosins with Ultrafast Force-Clamp Spectroscopy
Published on: July 1, 2021
Mechanical processes in biochemistry
Carlos Bustamante1, Yann R Chemla, Nancy R Forde
1Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-3206, USA. carlos@alice.berkeley.edu
Abstract:
Mechanical processes are involved in nearly every facet of the cell cycle. Mechanical forces are generated in the cell during processes as diverse as chromosomal segregation, replication, transcription, translation, translocation of proteins across membranes, cell locomotion, and catalyzed protein and nucleic acid folding and unfolding, among others. Because force is a product of all these reactions, biochemists are beginning to directly apply external forces to these processes to alter the extent or even the fate of these reactions hoping to reveal their underlying molecular mechanisms. This review provides the conceptual framework to understand the role of mechanical force in biochemistry.
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