Optical Tweezers: Fundamentals and Some Biophysical Applications

Dhakal, Kamal; Lakshminarayanan, Vasudevan

doi:10.1016/bs.po.2017.10.003

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 158 publications

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“…The mechanism of action of OT depends, in part on the ratio between the size of the object to be trapped and the wavelength of the light employed in the OT, and in part on the difference between the refractive indexes of the object to be trapped and the surrounding medium ( Berns and Greulich, 2007 ; Gao et al, 2017 ; Greulich, 2017 ; Dhakal and Lakshminarayanan, 2018 ). OT trapping can be generally divided in two regimes attending to the size ratio of the object to the light wavelength: the ray optics (geometrical regime) when the object is much larger than the light wavelength, and the induced-dipole (Rayleigh regime) when the object is much smaller than the wavelength ( Bowman and Padgett, 2013 ; Bradac, 2018 ).…”

Section: Optical Tweezers For Genetic Materials Manipulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The topic of OT is very broad and its working fundamentals quite beyond the scope of this review. Many reviews ( Berns et al, 1997 ; Bowman and Padgett, 2013 ; Gao et al, 2017 ; Dhakal and Lakshminarayanan, 2018 ) on the mechanisms and multiple applications have been written along the years and can be consulted by those interested. Here, we will focus on the use of OT to manipulate and study genetic material and structures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic Material Manipulation and Modification by Optical Trapping and Nanosurgery-A Perspective

Blázquez‐Castro

Fernández‐Piqueras

Santos

2020

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

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Light can be employed as a tool to alter and manipulate matter in many ways. An example has been the implementation of optical trapping, the so called optical tweezers, in which light can hold and move small objects with 3D control. Of interest for the Life Sciences and Biotechnology is the fact that biological objects in the size range from tens of nanometers to hundreds of microns can be precisely manipulated through this technology. In particular, it has been shown possible to optically trap and move genetic material (DNA and chromatin) using optical tweezers. Also, these biological entities can be severed, rearranged and reconstructed by the combined use of laser scissors and optical tweezers. In this review, the background, current state and future possibilities of optical tweezers and laser scissors to manipulate, rearrange and alter genetic material (DNA, chromatin and chromosomes) will be presented. Sources of undesirable effects by the optical procedure and measures to avoid them will be discussed. In addition, first tentative approaches at cellular-level genetic and organelle surgery, in which genetic material or DNA-carrying organelles are extracted out or introduced into cells, will be presented.

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Section: Optical Tweezers For Genetic Materials Manipulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic Material Manipulation and Modification by Optical Trapping and Nanosurgery-A Perspective

Blázquez‐Castro

Fernández‐Piqueras

Santos

2020

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

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“…et al, 2001 ; Liu et al, 2014 ), to characterize the viral assembly of Simian virus 40 (SV40) ( van Rosmalen et al, 2020 ), to identify the integrity and interaction of an anti-HIV-1 enzyme (APOBEC3G) ( Morse et al, 2019 ) and to study the stability of the hairpin of the RNA of HIV-1 virus while is interacting with Gag protein ( McCauley et al, 2020 ). Despite their potential, optical tweezers are very restricted in the type of sample that they can hold; trapping nanostructures such as nanoparticles is still difficult and imprecise ( Dhakal and Lakshminarayanan, 2018 ), thus most viral studies have focused their attention to DNA, proteins and certain isolated structures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a Quantitative Single Particle Characterization by Super Resolution Microscopy: From Virus Structures to Antivirals Design

Arista-Romero

Pujals

Albertazzi

2021

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

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In the last year the COVID19 pandemic clearly illustrated the potential threat that viruses pose to our society. The characterization of viral structures and the identification of key proteins involved in each step of the cycle of infection are crucial to develop treatments. However, the small size of viruses, invisible under conventional fluorescence microscopy, make it difficult to study the organization of protein clusters within the viral particle. The applications of super-resolution microscopy have skyrocketed in the last years, converting this group into one of the leading techniques to characterize viruses and study the viral infection in cells, breaking the diffraction limit by achieving resolutions up to 10 nm using conventional probes such as fluorescent dyes and proteins. There are several super-resolution methods available and the selection of the right one it is crucial to study in detail all the steps involved in the viral infection, quantifying and creating models of infection for relevant viruses such as HIV-1, Influenza, herpesvirus or SARS-CoV-1. Here we review the use of super-resolution microscopy (SRM) to study all steps involved in the viral infection and antiviral design. In light of the threat of new viruses, these studies could inspire future assays to unveil the viral mechanism of emerging viruses and further develop successful antivirals against them.

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“…It was soon reasoned that radiation pressure forces, rising due to light changing its propagation direction because of different refractive indexes at interfaces, acted in such a way as to displace the illuminated object to the region with the largest photon flux [1]. This conclusion meant that it is possible to select a particular spatial location, through intense light focusing, wherein there is a minimum in the potential energy that tends to restore any displacement undergone by an object located in or close to such a location [2,3,4]. The difference in refractive index between the object to be trapped (with higher index) and the surrounding medium is critical for correct optical tweezing, as it involves changes in the propagation of light.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical Tweezers: Phototoxicity and Thermal Stress in Cells and Biomolecules

Blázquez‐Castro

2019

Micromachines

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For several decades optical tweezers have proven to be an invaluable tool in the study and analysis of myriad biological responses and applications. However, as with every tool, they can have undesirable or damaging effects upon the very sample they are helping to study. In this review the main negative effects of optical tweezers upon biostructures and living systems will be presented. There are three main areas on which the review will focus: linear optical excitation within the tweezers, non-linear photonic effects, and thermal load upon the sampled volume. Additional information is provided on negative mechanical effects of optical traps on biological structures. Strategies to avoid or, at least, minimize these negative effects will be introduced. Finally, all these effects, undesirable for the most, can have positive applications under the right conditions. Some hints in this direction will also be discussed.

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Optical Tweezers: Fundamentals and Some Biophysical Applications

Cited by 11 publications

References 158 publications

Genetic Material Manipulation and Modification by Optical Trapping and Nanosurgery-A Perspective

Genetic Material Manipulation and Modification by Optical Trapping and Nanosurgery-A Perspective

Towards a Quantitative Single Particle Characterization by Super Resolution Microscopy: From Virus Structures to Antivirals Design

Optical Tweezers: Phototoxicity and Thermal Stress in Cells and Biomolecules

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