A novel AFM based method for force measurements between individual hair strands.

Interactions between hairs and other natural fibers are of broad interest for both applications and fundamental understanding of biological interfaces. We present a novel method, that allows force measurements between individual hair strands. Hair fragments can be laser-cut without altering their surface chemistry.

Reverse engineering of an affinity-switchable molecular interaction characterized by atomic force microscopy single-molecule force spectroscopy.

Tunable and switchable interaction between molecules is a key for regulation and control of cellular processes. The translation of the underlying physicochemical principles to synthetic and switchable functional entities and molecules that can mimic the corresponding molecular functions is called reverse molecular engineering. We quantitatively investigated autoinducer-regulated DNA-protein interaction in bacterial gene regulation processes with single atomic force microscopy (AFM) molecule force spectroscopy in vitro, and developed an artificial bistable molecular host-guest system that can be controlled and regulated by external signals (UV light exposure and thermal energy).

Effector-stimulated single molecule protein-DNA interactions of a quorum-sensing system in Sinorhizobium meliloti.

Intercellular communication by means of small signal molecules coordinates gene expression among bacteria. This population density-dependent regulation is known as quorum sensing. The symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti Rm1021 possesses the Sin quorum sensing system based on N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHL) as signal molecules.

Detailed studies of the binding mechanism of the Sinorhizobium meliloti transcriptional activator ExpG to DNA.

The exopolysaccharide galactoglucan promotes the establishment of symbiosis between the nitrogen-fixing Gram-negative soil bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti 2011 and its host plant alfalfa. The transcriptional regulator ExpG activates expression of galactoglucan biosynthesis genes by direct binding to the expA1, expG/expD1 and expE1 promoter regions. ExpG is a member of the MarR family of regulatory proteins.

Specific binding of the regulatory protein ExpG to promoter regions of the galactoglucan biosynthesis gene cluster of Sinorhizobium meliloti--a combined molecular biology and force spectroscopy investigation.

Specific protein-DNA interaction is fundamental for all aspects of gene transcription. We focus on a regulatory DNA-binding protein in the Gram-negative soil bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti 2011, which is capable of fixing molecular nitrogen in a symbiotic interaction with alfalfa plants. The ExpG protein plays a central role in regulation of the biosynthesis of the exopolysaccharide galactoglucan, which promotes the establishment of symbiosis.