Dna Tension Probes
Dna Tension Probes - Related Videos
05:58
Using DNA-Based Tension Probes to Assess Receptor Forces Applied by Immune Cells
0 Views •
2025
The video demonstrates a method for assessing receptor forces applied by immune cells using polyethylene glycol-anchored gold nanoparticles and DNA hairpin tension probes. CD8-positive T cell interactions trigger probe unfolding, emitting fluorescence while locking strands sustain the signal for quantifying the forces applied by immune cells.
06:53
DNA Tension Probes to Map the Transient Piconewton Receptor Forces by Immune Cells
0 Views •
Cited by 9 •
2021
This paper describes a detailed protocol for using DNA-based tension probes to image the receptor forces applied by immune cells. This approach can map receptor forces >4.7pN in real-time and can integrate forces over time.
14:57
DNA Stable-Isotope Probing (DNA-SIP)
0 Views •
Cited by 70 •
2010
DNA stable-isotope probing is a cultivation-independent method to identify and characterize active communities of microorganisms that are capable of utilizing specific substrates. Assimilation of substrate enriched in heavy isotope leads to incorporation of labelled atoms into microbial biomass. Density gradient ultracentrifugation retrieves labelled DNA for downstream molecular analyses.
12:16
Robust 3D DNA FISH Using Directly Labeled Probes
0 Views •
Cited by 49 •
2013
We describe a robust and versatile protocol for analyzing nuclear architecture by 3D DNA FISH using directly labeled fluorescent probes.
03:31
Labeling DNA Probes
0 Views •
2021
DNA probes are fragments of DNA labeled with a reporter tag to enable their detection or purification. The resulting labeled DNA probes can then hybridize to target nucleic acid sequences through complementary base-pairing, and may be used to recover or identify these regions. Radioisotopes, fluorophores, or small molecule binding partners like biotin or digoxigenin, are the most widely used reporter tags for labeling DNA probes. These labels can be attached to the probe DNA molecule via...
FAQs
A fluorophore-quencher hairpin remains dim while its structure is closed. When receptor-generated traction opens the hairpin, the fluorophore becomes detectable. A mechanically labile duplex operates through force-dependent strand separation instead. These designs translate molecular deformation into fluorescence, allowing receptor activity to be examined through structural changes in the probe rather than through receptor abundance alone.
The probe architecture determines the measured output. Mechanical opening or separation can generate a fluorescence signal associated with the applied tension, while the same signal can indicate that a force-dependent molecular transition has occurred. This distinction matters because fluorescence may be interpreted as a readout of mechanical loading, a threshold-crossing event, or both, depending on the probe design.
T-cell receptors, integrins, and phagocytic machinery engage different cellular recognition and interaction processes, so they can transmit mechanical forces through their surface connections in different ways. Mapping those forces separately helps connect receptor-specific mechanics with immune recognition, activation, adhesion, or particle handling, rather than treating all cell-surface traction as a single uniform signal.
These probes make receptor-transmitted mechanics visible alongside the biological interaction that produces them. Force patterns can therefore be related to immune processes in which physical cues influence recognition or activation. In infection studies, the same strategy helps examine whether mechanical interactions contribute to host-cell responses, pathogen attachment, entry, or mechanisms that support immune evasion.
The probe is positioned between a surface and a ligand so that a cell-surface receptor can engage the ligand through the mechanically responsive DNA element. Receptor-generated traction then changes the hairpin or duplex state, and fluorescence reports that change. This arrangement connects the location of receptor engagement with the molecular force-dependent signal produced at the interface.
Fluorescence mapping can show where receptor-generated forces occur across a cell or contact region and can associate those signals with particular receptor systems. For immune cells, this supports analysis of forces transmitted by T-cell receptors, integrins, or phagocytic machinery. The resulting spatial information helps distinguish localized mechanical activity from broadly distributed receptor engagement.
At host-pathogen contact sites, the probes can examine mechanical interactions involved in adhesion and entry. They may also help investigate how pathogens interact physically with host-cell receptors in ways related to immune evasion. This application extends force measurement beyond immune-cell activation, providing a molecular view of the mechanics at interfaces where infection begins or progresses.