Single molecule fluorescence techniques

This book is aimed at experimental scientists with a physical chemistry or biochemistry background who wish to enter this new and exciting field of research and to apply single molecule fluorescence techniques to studies of macromolecular structure and function. The book is designed to present an introduction to the topic, from the practical implementation of single molecule fluorescence experiments, through methods of data analysis to a description of a range of current and future... 

Abundant examples of diffusion spFRET can be found in the literature. Indeed it is in this area that single molecule fluorescence techniques have arguably proved the most useful. In Chapter 5 we review three papers in detail but here we present a very brief review of a broader range of spFRET experiments. 

As can be seen from Table 4.2, nucleic acids, proteins or heterogeneous complexes of one or both of these, have been the most commonly investigated biomolecules using single molecule fluorescence techniques. As no intrinsic naturally occurring fluorophores with suitable photophysical properties for single molecule experiments are found in either nucleic acids or polypetides (see Section 4.2.1), it is necessary to introduce such moieties into these biomolecules [5,24,25]. This can be done in three ways ... 

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