Abstract
Many biological systems function through multiple non-covalent interactions between different proteins or nucleic acids. Even when only a few different kinds of macromolecules are involved, it is often true that a large number of different non-covalent complexes can form. This combinatorial complexity can make using conventional biochemical approaches to elucidate the kinetic mechanisms of these systems intractably difficult. Multi-wavelength single-molecule fluorescence is powerful approach to mechanistic analysis of these complex systems. By following individual molecules, this method can define reaction pathways and measure kinetics even in mixtures as complex as whole cell extracts. This talk will illustrate this approach with examples taken from basic processes in molecular biology including transcription and pre-mRNA splicing.