Scientists Accidentally Invent A Simple ‘Ruler’ Measure Distances Between Molecules
Measuring distances between proteins, i.e. directly on the nanometer scale, is usually done using special microscopes. Such devices allow you to see the position of macromolecules relative to each other. A group of researchers from Germany has created a “ruler” that can penetrate inside macromolecules and measure intramolecular distances with high accuracy. This approach will be useful in medicine.
It is safe to say that the scientists made this discovery by accident. They were studying the spatial structure of proteins (protein folding) using fluorescent markers. Polyproline-based markers, which are already used as a “ruler” in structural biology, were attached to the molecules, and then the samples were illuminated with a laser. The glow of the markers excited by the laser pulse was recorded as electromagnetic radiation and gave an idea of the distance between the markers. The work done allowed the scientists to develop a new approach for measuring intramolecular distances in the range from 1 to 10 nanometers for typical molecules, which they called Minflux. The smallest distance that the researchers were able to measure using this method was 0.1 nm, which corresponds to the width of one atom. This method was tested on organic molecules, but it remains possible that it will be possible to measure distances in semiconductors with its help, which would significantly help the development of electronics in the angstrom era.
In the future, the German physicists plan to improve their method and try to find out for which macromolecules the fluorescent “ruler” will be most useful.
