Nano Lett., 6 (7), 1318 -1324, 2006. 10.1021/nl052458a S1530-6984(05)02458-6
Web Release Date: June 20, 2006

Copyright © 2006 American Chemical Society

NSET Molecular Beacon Analysis of Hammerhead RNA Substrate Binding and Catalysis

T. L. Jennings, J. C. Schlatterer, M. P. Singh, N. L. Greenbaum, and G. F. Strouse*

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306-4390

Received December 13, 2005

Revised May 24, 2006

Abstract:

Nanometal surface energy transfer (NSET), which describes an energy transfer event from optically excited organic fluorophores to small metal nanoparticles, may be used as a molecular beacon/ruler similar to FRET, but with advantages over this classical technique. Here we use NSET to measure Mg2+-induced conformational changes for a hammerhead ribozyme and confirm these measurements using FRET. These optical experiments enhance our understanding of the different kinetic pathways for this ribozyme.

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