Probing dynamics of chromatin structure using force and fluorescence spectroscopy

Chandrashekhar Murade (BPE group)

Objective

Aim of this project is to study DNA histone interactions, which are responsible for the primary structure of chromatin. To measure and understand these interaction we are going to use two single molecule sensitive techniques i) optical tweezers ii) fluorescence microscopy.

We would like to study the interaction of various histone proteins such as H1, H2A, H2B, H3 and H4 with DNA in real time. Optical tweezers (OT) will give us the mechanical (i.e. force) information under study and fluorescence microscopy technique will provide the information about location/presence of specific molecules (cf. histone proteins) in the nucleo- protein complex. When present in low concentration accurate positioning of these molecules on the DNA is possible. The combined approach will allow correlation of the force spectroscopy data with details on the presence of individual molecules in the chromatin fiber.