Journal
RSC ADVANCES
Volume 11, Issue 57, Pages 36060-36065Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/d1ra07067c
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [11772133]
- Double First-Class University Plan [x2sw-k5183480]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study introduces a simple method to observe structural changes of biomolecules and organelles after stretching without the need for complex processing. By binding DNA or molecules to magnetic microbeads and stretching with a magnetic field, long structures up to hundreds of micrometers can be observed at nanometer resolution.
Biomolecules and organelles usually undergo changes to their structure or form as a result of mechanical stretching or stimulation. It is critical to be able to observe these changes and responses, which trigger mechano-chemical coupling or signal transduction. Advanced techniques have been developed to observe structure and form during manipulation; however, these require sophisticated methods. We have developed a simple approach to observe fine structure after stretching without fluorophore labeling. DNAs or molecules on the cell surface were bound to magnetic microbeads, followed by stretching with a magnetic field. After fixing, staining, and drying, the samples were examined by scanning electron microscopy with no need to build a functional surface with complex processes. Straight DNAs were observed rather than random-walk-like loose polymers. In our cellular experiment, the magnetic beads were bound to a Jurkat cell and formed a rosette which was later stuck to the substrate. A 41.3 mu m filament on the base of a filopodium was pulled out via integrin from a cell. Therefore, our method can reveal long structures up to hundreds of micrometers at nanometer resolution after stretching or twisting. Our approach could have wide applications in structure-function studies of biomolecules, and in mechanobiology and cell biology when diffraction cannot used.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available