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Direct Force Measurements of Subcellular Mechanics in Confinement using Optical Tweezers
Published on: August 31, 2021
Quantitative optical trapping on single organelles in cell extract
Pradeep Barak1, Ashim Rai, Priyanka Rai
1Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India.
Nature Methods
|December 18, 2012
Abstract:
We have developed an optical trapping method to precisely measure the force generated by motor proteins on single organelles of unknown size in cell extract. This approach, termed VMatch, permits the functional interrogation of native motor complexes. We apply VMatch to measure the force, number and activity of kinesin-1 on motile lipid droplets isolated from the liver of normally fed and food-deprived rats.

