• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.107-111
• /
• 2008

We demonstrated single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) from single donor-acceptor dye pair attached to a DNA with a setup based on a confocal microscope. Singlestrand DNAs were immobilized on a glass surface with suitable inter-dye distance. Energy transfer efficiency between the donor and the acceptor dyes attached to the DNA was measured with different lengths of DNA. Photobleaching of single dye molecule was observed and used as a sign of single-molecule detection. We could achieve high enough signal-to-noise ratio to detect the fluorescence from a single-molecule, which allows real-time observation of the distance change between single dye pairs in nanometer scale.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.1021-1024
• /
• 2010

• International Journal of Oral Biology
• /
• v.43 no.2
• /
• pp.53-59
• /
• 2018

In order to understand biological phenomena accurately, single molecule techniques using a physical research approach to molecular interactions have been developed, and are now widely being used to study complex biological processes. In this review, we discuss some of the single molecule methods which are composed of two major parts: single molecule spectroscopy and manipulation. In particular, we explain how these techniques work and introduce the current research which uses them. Finally, we present the oral biology research using the single molecule methods.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.958-962
• /
• 2012

In single-molecule fluorescence experiment, the oxygen scavenging system is indispensable for avoiding photo-bleaching of fluorescent dyes. Here we report that the gloxy-based oxygen scavenging system commonly used in single molecule fluorescence experiments can disturb the solution pH considerably. To track in situ pH change, we utilized the pH-sensitive conformational transition of i-motif and examined the transition with ensemble and single-molecule FRET measurements. Based on our results, we also suggested several practical remedies for the stability of the solution pH.

• Polymer Science and Technology
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.163-167
• /
• 2015

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.48 no.12
• /
• pp.643-644
• /
• 2015

In eukaryotes, small RNAs play important roles in both gene regulation and resistance to viral infection. Argonaute proteins have been identified as a key component of the effector complexes of various RNA-silencing pathways, but the mechanistic roles of Argonaute proteins in these pathways are not clearly understood. To address this question, we performed single-molecule fluorescence experiments using an RNA-induced silencing complex (core-RISC) composed of a small RNA and human Argonaute 2. We found that target binding of core-RISC starts at the seed region of the guide RNA. After target binding, four distinct reactions followed: target cleavage, transient binding, stable binding, and Argonaute unloading. Target cleavage required extensive sequence complementarity and accelerated core-RISC dissociation for recycling. In contrast, the stable binding of core-RISC to target RNAs required seed-match only, suggesting a potential explanation for the seed-match rule of microRNA (miRNA) target selection.