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Updated: Feb 4, 2026

Use of Dual Optical Tweezers and Microfluidics for Single-Molecule Studies
Published on: November 18, 2022
Single-Molecule Optical Tweezers Study of Regulated SNARE Assembly
Lu Ma1, Junyi Jiao2,3, Yongli Zhang4
1Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
Intracellular membrane fusion mediates material and information exchange among different cells or cellular compartments with high accuracy and spatiotemporal resolution. Fusion is driven by ordered folding and assembly of soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor (NSF) attachment protein (SNAP) receptors (SNAREs) and regulated by many other proteins. Understanding regulated SNARE assembly is key to dissecting mechanisms and physiologies of various fusion processes and their associated diseases. Yet, it remains challenging to study regulated SNARE assembly using traditional ensemble-based experimental approaches. Here, we describe our new method to measure the energy and kinetics of neuronal SNARE assembly in the presence of α-SNAP, using a single-molecule manipulation approach based on high-resolution optical tweezers. Detailed experimental protocols and methods of data analysis are shown. This approach can be widely applied to elucidate the effects of regulatory proteins on SNARE assembly and membrane fusion.
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