Mechanoenzymes are enzymes which use a chemical reaction to power directed movement along biological polymer. Such enzymes include the cytoskeletal motors (e.g., myosins, dyneins, and kinesins) as well as nucleic acid polymerases and helicases. A single catalytic turnover of a mechanoenzyme moves the enzyme molecule along the polymer a distance on the order of 10−9 m We have developed light microscope and digital image processing methods to detect and measure nanometer-scale motions driven by single mechanoenzyme molecules. These techniques enable one to monitor the occurrence of single reaction steps and to measure the lifetimes of reaction intermediates in individual enzyme molecules. This information can be used to elucidate reaction mechanisms and determine microscopic rate constants. Such an approach circumvents difficulties encountered in the use of traditional transient-state kinetics techniques to examine mechanoenzyme reaction mechanisms.
