Optical tweezers articles from across Nature Portfolio

This study presents an image processing-based stage height control and optical trap dithering technique to detect protein-protein interactions. It was used to show that the MT binding rate for KIF5B has a strong spatial and motor length dependence.

Sanfeliu-Cerdán et al. show that an SH3-domain-induced rigidity transition of MEC-2/stomatin condensates enables mechanotranduction of external forces in C. elegans touch receptor neurons.

A new instrument named OptoRheo combines light sheet fluorescence microscopy and particle tracking microrheology for live imaging and micromechanical sensing of extracellular matrix-cell interactions.

In anaphase, any unresolved DNA entanglements between the segregating sister chromatids can give rise to chromatin bridges. Here, the authors present an in vitro single-molecule assay that mimics chromatin under tension, to show that PICH is a tension- and ATP-dependent nucleosome remodeler.

The authors use optical tweezers to show that the folding of repeats-in-toxin (RTX) block-iv in adenylate cyclase is templated by the folded RTX block-v. The findings suggest a possible mechanism for transmitting the folding signal in the RTX domain.

Polymer physics, comparing ways to assess chromatin structure and taking in tales at the Italian seaside.

Germanium nanoparticles enable optical trapping at high spatiotemporal resolution.