Molecular-Scale GPS: Positioning a Biosensor Peptide on RyR

摘要: You might have wondered how the Global Positioning System (GPS) manages to pinpoint whether your car is at parking lot or on a nearby road just 10 feet away. The official site of GPS.gov reports that high-quality receivers provide >3 meter horizontal accuracy, i.e., dimension medium-sized car; remarkable spatial resolution! Some if it would be possible use principle GPS determine location molecule, e.g., an effector peptide, relative target protein, ion channel; challenging task will require improvement resolution by factor 1010. Efforts several research groups, including study Svensson et al. (1) published in this issue the Biophysical Journal, resulted multistep method reminiscent of GPS characterize protein structure position one molecule to another. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) used obtain multiple distance constraints, which are then analyzed trilateration (or triangulation) procedure locate components molecular complex each other. purpose New & Notable hit high spots these studies and briefly discuss advantages limitations new biophysical toolkit for macromolecular characterization.