Quantitative electron microscopic analysis of DNA-protein interactions

Electron microscopy offers a unique potentiality to visualize individual molecules. For the last 30 years it has been used to study the structure and the interactions of various biological macromolecules. The contribution of electron microscopy is important because of its capacity to demonstrate the existence of conformational structures such as kinks, bents, loops, etc., either on naked DNA, or on DNA associated with various proteins or ligands. Increasing interest was given to such observations when it was found that they provide a direct visualization of interacting molecules involved in DNA metabolism and gene regulation. Technical advances in the preparation of the specimens, their observation in the electron microscope, and the image processing by computers have allowed the shifting from qualitative to quantitative analysis, as illustrated by a few examples from our laboratory.