Super-Resolved FRET Imaging by Confocal Fluorescence-Lifetime Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy.

Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET)-based approaches are unique tools for sensing the immediate surroundings and interactions of (bio)molecules. FRET imaging and Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) enable the visualization of the spatial distribution of molecular interactions and functional states. However, conventional FLIM and FRET imaging provide average information over an ensemble of molecules within a diffraction-limited volume, which limits the spatial information, accuracy, and dynamic range of the observed signals. Here, an approach to obtain super-resolved FRET imaging based on single-molecule localization microscopy using an early prototype of a commercial time-resolved confocal microscope is demonstrated. DNA Points Accumulation for Imaging in Nanoscale Topography with fluorogenic probes provides a suitable combination of background reduction and binding kinetics compatible with the scanning speed of usual confocal microscopes. A single laser is used to excite the donor, a broad detection band is employed to retrieve both donor and acceptor emission, and FRET events are detected from lifetime information.

Nanoscopic Approach to Quantification of Equilibrium and Rate Constants of Complex Formation at Single-Molecule Level.

Equilibrium and rate constants are key descriptors of complex-formation processes in a variety of chemical and biological reactions. However, these parameters are difficult to quantify, especially in the locally confined, heterogeneous, and dynamically changing living matter. Herein, we address this challenge by combining stimulated emission depletion (STED) nanoscopy with fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). STED reduces the length-scale of observation to tens of nanometres (2D)/attoliters (3D) and the time-scale to microseconds, with direct, gradual control. This allows one to distinguish diffusional and binding processes of complex-formation, even at reaction rates higher by an order of magnitude than in confocal FCS. We provide analytical autocorrelation formulas for probes undergoing diffusion-reaction processes under STED condition. We support the theoretical analysis of experimental STED-FCS data on a model system of dye-micelle, where we retrieve the equilibrium and rates constants. Our work paves a promising way toward quantitative characterization of molecular interactions in vivo.

Transient state imaging of live cells using single plane illumination and arbitrary duty cycle excitation pulse trains.

We demonstrate the applicability of Single Plane Illumination Microscopy to Transient State Imaging (TRAST), offering sensitive microenvironmental information together with optical sectioning and reduced overall excitation light exposure of the specimen. The concept is verified by showing that transition rates can be determined accurately for free dye in solution and that fluorophore transition rates can be resolved pixel-wise in live cells. Furthermore, we derive a new theoretical framework for analyzing TRAST data acquired with arbitrary duty cycle pulse trains. By this analysis it is possible to reduce the overall measurement time and thereby enhance the frame rates in TRAST imaging.

dNTP-dependent conformational transitions in the fingers subdomain of Klentaq1 DNA polymerase: insights into the role of the "nucleotide-binding" state.

BACKGROUND: Conformational selection plays a key role in the polymerase cycle. RESULTS: Klentaq1 exists in conformational equilibrium between three states (open, closed, and "nucleotide-binding") whose level of occupancy is determined by the bound substrate. CONCLUSION: The "nucleotide-binding" state plays a pivotal role in the reaction pathway. SIGNIFICANCE: Direct evidence is provided for the role of a conformationally distinct "nucleotide-binding" state during dNTP incorporation. DNA polymerases are responsible for the accurate replication of DNA. Kinetic, single-molecule, and x-ray studies show that multiple conformational states are important for DNA polymerase fidelity. Using high precision FRET measurements, we show that Klentaq1 (the Klenow fragment of Thermus aquaticus DNA polymerase 1) is in equilibrium between three structurally distinct states. In the absence of nucleotide, the enzyme is mostly open, whereas in the presence of DNA and a correctly base-pairing dNTP, it re-equilibrates to a closed state. In the presence of a dNTP alone, with DNA and an incorrect dNTP, or in elevated MgCl2 concentrations, an intermediate state termed the "nucleotide-binding" state predominates. Photon distribution and hidden Markov modeling revealed fast dynamic and slow conformational processes occurring between all three states in a complex energy landscape suggesting a mechanism in which dNTP delivery is mediated by the nucleotide-binding state. After nucleotide binding, correct dNTPs are transported to the closed state, whereas incorrect dNTPs are delivered to the open state.

Single-molecule multiparameter fluorescence spectroscopy reveals directional MutS binding to mismatched bases in DNA.

Mismatch repair (MMR) corrects replication errors such as mismatched bases and loops in DNA. The evolutionarily conserved dimeric MMR protein MutS recognizes mismatches by stacking a phenylalanine of one subunit against one base of the mismatched pair. In all crystal structures of G:T mismatch-bound MutS, phenylalanine is stacked against thymine. To explore whether these structures reflect directional mismatch recognition by MutS, we monitored the orientation of Escherichia coli MutS binding to mismatches by FRET and anisotropy with steady state, pre-steady state and single-molecule multiparameter fluorescence measurements in a solution. The results confirm that specifically bound MutS bends DNA at the mismatch. We found additional MutS-mismatch complexes with distinct conformations that may have functional relevance in MMR. The analysis of individual binding events reveal significant bias in MutS orientation on asymmetric mismatches (G:T versus T:G, A:C versus C:A), but not on symmetric mismatches (G:G). When MutS is blocked from binding a mismatch in the preferred orientation by positioning asymmetric mismatches near the ends of linear DNA substrates, its ability to authorize subsequent steps of MMR, such as MutH endonuclease activation, is almost abolished. These findings shed light on prerequisites for MutS interactions with other MMR proteins for repairing the appropriate DNA strand.

Accurate single-molecule FRET studies using multiparameter fluorescence detection.

In the recent decade, single-molecule (sm) spectroscopy has come of age and is providing important insight into how biological molecules function. So far our view of protein function is formed, to a significant extent, by traditional structure determination showing many beautiful static protein structures. Recent experiments by single-molecule and other techniques have questioned the idea that proteins and other biomolecules are static structures. In particular, Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) studies of single molecules have shown that biomolecules may adopt many conformations as they perform their function. Despite the success of sm-studies, interpretation of smFRET data are challenging since they can be complicated due to many artifacts arising from the complex photophysical behavior of fluorophores, dynamics, and motion of fluorophores, as well as from small amounts of contaminants. We demonstrate that the simultaneous acquisition of a maximum of fluorescence parameters by multiparameter fluorescence detection (MFD) allows for a robust assessment of all possible artifacts arising from smFRET and offers unsurpassed capabilities regarding the identification and analysis of individual species present in a population of molecules. After a short introduction, the data analysis procedure is described in detail together with some experimental considerations. The merits of MFD are highlighted further with the presentation of some applications to proteins and nucleic acids, including accurate structure determination based on FRET. A toolbox is introduced in order to demonstrate how complications originating from orientation, mobility, and position of fluorophores have to be taken into account when determining FRET-related distances with high accuracy. Furthermore, the broad time resolution (picoseconds to hours) of MFD allows for kinetic studies that resolve interconversion events between various subpopulations as a biomolecule of interest explores its structural energy landscape.

On the origin of broadening of single-molecule FRET efficiency distributions beyond shot noise limits.

Single-molecule FRET experiments on freely diffusing rigid molecules frequently show FRET efficiency (E) distributions broader than those defined by photon statistics. It is often unclear whether the observed extra broadening can be attributed to a physical donor-acceptor distance (R(DA)) distribution. Using double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) labeled with Alexa488 and Cy5 (or Alexa647) as a test system, we investigate various possible contributions to the E distribution width. On the basis of simultaneous analysis of donor and acceptor intensities and donor lifetimes, we conclude that dsDNA chain dynamics can be ruled out as a possible reason for the observed E distribution broadening. We applied a set of tools to demonstrate that complex acceptor dye photophysics can represent a major contribution to the E distribution width. Quantitative analysis of the correlation between FRET efficiency and donor fluorescence lifetime in 2D multiparameter histograms allows one to distinguish between broadening due to distinct FRET or dye species. Moreover, we derived a simple theory, which predicts that the apparent distance width due to acceptor fluorescence quantum yield variations increases linearly with physical donor-acceptor distance. This theory nicely explains the experimentally observed FRET broadening of a series of freely diffusing labeled dsDNA and dsRNA molecules. Accounting for multiple acceptor states allowed the fitting of experimental E distributions, assuming a single fixed donor-acceptor distance.