The ability to selectively modify proteins at two or more defined locations opens new
avenues for manipulating, engineering, and studying living systems. As a chemical biology …

Proteins are the active workhorses in our body. These biomolecules perform all vital cellular
functions from DNA replication and general biosynthesis to metabolic signaling and …

Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has emerged as a powerful method for the
determination of structures of complex biological molecules. The accurate characterisation …

Fluorescence nanoscopy represented a breakthrough for the life sciences as it delivers 20–
30 nm resolution using far-field fluorescence microscopes. This resolution limit is not …

Our understanding of what determines ligand affinity of proteins is poor, even with high-
resolution structures available. Both the non-covalent ligand–protein interactions and the …

The conformations of biological macromolecules are intimately related to their cellular
functions. Conveniently, the well-characterized dipole–dipole distance-dependence of …

Single-molecule spectroscopy has revolutionized molecular biophysics and provided means
to probe how structural moieties within biomolecules spatially reorganize at different …

The initiation of transcription in Escherichia coli (E. coli) is facilitated by promoter specificity
factors, also known as σ factors, which may bind a promoter only as part of a complex with …

The ATP-binding cassette transporter GlnPQ is an essential uptake system that transports
glutamine, glutamic acid and asparagine in Gram-positive bacteria. It features two extra …

Single-molecule manipulation with optical tweezers has uncovered macromolecular
behaviour hidden to other experimental techniques. Recent instrumental improvements …