Crosslinking proteins to nucleic acids by ultraviolet laser irradiation

Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation can initiate complex formation between proteins and DNA or RNA and so can be used to study such interactions. However, crosslink formation by standard UV light sources can take up to several hours. More recently, a beam of monochromatic UV light from a laser has been used to initiate crosslinking in nano- and picosecond time intervals. As noted in an earlier TIBS article 'the advantages of short pulse times and high-energy fluxes should make this a valuable technique in the future'. In this review we characterize laser-induced crosslinking and explore the applications of this method.