A novel high-throughput single-molecule technique: DNA curtain

Single-molecule (SM) techniques have been contributing to unraveling the detailed mechanisms underlying DNA metabolic processes with superior spatiotemporal resolution beyond the limit of traditional biochemical assays. However, SM techniques need to gather a great deal of data to guarantee statistical reliability. The ‘DNA curtain’ technique is a high-throughput system integrating fluorescence imaging, microfluidics, and nano-engineering to enable the visualization of protein-DNA interactions at the single-molecule level. Since the DNA curtain technique was presented, it has evolved for probing diverse DNA transactions including replication, repair, recombination, and chromatin dynamics. Here, we introduce several types of DNA curtain assays and review their principles, technical details, and applications.