A SUPER-RESOLUTION FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPE FOR SINGLE MOLECULE MEASUREMENTS IN FOOD & NUTRITION, AGRICULTURAL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH

Dissecting the molecular mechanisms that support biological processes important for food and nutrition, for agriculture, and for the environment involves a complex interplay of many proceses: the identification of the molecular actors (proteins, lipid membranes, nucleic acids, small molecules) involved in the mechanism; the generation of specific physical models describing how these actors behave and interact to generate a specific biological mechanism; and the testing of these models for their correspondence to molecular reality. The final testing phase often presents significant difficulities associated with identifying the precise roles engaged in by specific actors. Does protein A initiate a process or follow the action of another molecule? Does the nucleic acid interact with protein B or another protein? Do the proteins bind to the membrane while functioning? Etc., etc.The fluorescence microscope purchased in this project will facilitate such precise testing of physical mechanisms by allowing researchers to actually monitor the behaviour of single individual molecular actors engaged in a specific biological function, either in a model system in vitro or even perhaps in a living cell. This instrument has the capability to detect, locate, and monitor the movement of single molecules that either include an intrinsice fluorescence probe or that can be covalently labeled with a fluorescence probe. Such molecular precision thus allows researchers to precisely test the role played by specific molecules, be they lipids, proteins, nucleic acids or whatever, in the specific mechanisms of biological processes.This project will thus make simgle molecule imaging readily available to a novel research audience in food & nutrition, agriculture, and the environment. These capabilities should have a dramatic impact on the state of knowledge in these fields and inspire additional studies of biological mechanisms molecule-by-molecule.