Proceedings Article | 8 January 1996
KEYWORDS: Molecules, Molecular lasers, Comets, Ultraviolet radiation, Optical tweezers, Biotechnology, Lamps, Laser applications, Luminescence, Light sources
While lasers have found a wide field of application in the analysis of cells and biomolecules, their use in manipulation is less common. Now, new applications of lasers are emerging, which aim at cells and even molecules as biotechnological individuals: For example, in single cell gel electrophoresis individual cells are irradiated by UV laser pulses which cause radiation damage to DNA. When the whole cell is positioned in an electric field and the UV induced damages are converted into DNA strand breaks, the resulting DNA fragments are eluted out of the cell nucleus. Small fragments are running further than large ones. After staining of the DNA fragments, the cell has the appearance like a comet (therefore comet assay). The tail moment, a parameter quantifying the shape of the tail, gives information on the degree of DNA damage. The kinetics of DNA damage induction can be described by a type of exponential law with parameters which are related to radiation sensitivity of the DNA. A further emerging technique aims at DNA as a molecular individuum. One pivotal step for single molecule DNA analysis is single molecule handling. For that purpose, a DNA molecule is coupled to a micrometer sized polystyrene bead, either via an avidin-biotin bridge or, more specifically, by strand recognition, and labeled with fluorescence dyes such as DAPI. In order to visualize the dynamics of individual DNA molecules, highly sensitive video processing and single photon counting is required. Moving the polystyrene bead using optical tweezers, the molecule can be deformed, i.e., bent, turned or stretched. Using a laser microbeam, the same individual molecule can be cut into smaller portions.
