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Thursday, 12th October 2006 (6224 views)

Gold nanopaticles could be used to help measure DNA protein, claim scientists at Berkeley.

A team of researchers from the US department of energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have produced a unique ruler that uses gold nanparticles and DNA to accurately measure DNA protein.

The ruler enables a real-time measurement of DNA interaction and could play a key role in understanding the behaviour of human genes and proteins.

Details of the new use of gold can be found in the latest issue of the Nature Nanotechnology journal and the ruler could finally help scientists measure the unique process of developing genetic information.

Fanqing Frank Chen, a scientist in Berkeley Lab and co-author of the research, explained: "Our work promises to be a fast and convenient alternative for mapping DNA-protein interactions. We can measure precisely how a protein interacts with the information inscribed in the DNA and begins to regulate genetic information."

He added that the gold ruler will enable the measurement of DNA interactions that are up to 17 nanometres in length and have a span of around 70 nanometres.

 

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