Monitoring helicase-catalyzed DNA unwinding by fluorescence anisotropy and fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy

In order to elucidate molecular mechanism of helicases, we have developed two new rapid and sensitive fluorescence assays to measure helicase-mediated DNA unwinding. The fluorescence anisotropy (FA) assay takes the advantage of the substantial change in fluorescence polarization upon helicase binding to DNA and DNA unwinding. The extent of depolarization depends on the rate of tumbling of the fluorescently labeled DNA molecule, which decreases with increasing size. This assay therefore can simultaneously monitor the DNA binding of helicase and the subsequent helicase-catalyzed DNA unwinding in real-time. For size limitation reasons, the FA approach is more suitable for single-turnover kinetic studies. A fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy method (FCCS) is also described for measuring DNA unwinding. This assay is based on the degree of concomitant diffusion of the two complementary DNA strands in a small excitation volume, each labeled by a different color. The decrease in the amplitude of the cross-correlation signal is then directly related to the unwinding activity. By contrast with FA, the FCCS-based assay can be used to measure the unwinding activity under both single- and multiple-turnover conditions, with no limitation related to the size of the DNA strands constituting the DNA substrate. These methods used together have proven to be useful for studying molecular mechanism underlying efficient motor function of helicases. Here, we describe the theoretical basis and framework of FA and FCCS and some practical implications for measuring DNA binding and unwinding. We discuss sample preparation and potential troubleshooting. Special attention is paid to instrumentation, data acquisition and analysis.