Molecular Biophysics, Zernike Instituut, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Methods Mol Biol. 2024;2694:355-372. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3377-9_17.
Dynamic processes and structural changes of biological molecules are essential to life. While conventional atomic force microscopy (AFM) is able to visualize molecules and supramolecular assemblies at sub-nanometer resolution, it cannot capture dynamics because of its low imaging rate. The introduction of high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) solved this problem by providing a large increase in imaging velocity. Using HS-AFM, one is able to visualize dynamic molecular events with high spatiotemporal resolution under near-to physiological conditions. This approach opened new windows as finally dynamics of biomolecules at sub-nanometer resolution could be studied. Here we describe the working principles and an operation protocol for HS-AFM imaging and characterization of biological samples in liquid.
生物分子的动态过程和结构变化对生命至关重要。传统原子力显微镜（AFM）虽然能够以亚纳米分辨率可视化分子和超分子组装体，但由于成像速度低，无法捕捉动态信息。高速原子力显微镜（HS-AFM）的引入通过大幅提高成像速度解决了这一问题。使用 HS-AFM，可以在接近生理条件下以高时空分辨率可视化动态分子事件。这种方法开辟了新的窗口，最终可以在亚纳米分辨率下研究生物分子的动力学。本文描述了 HS-AFM 成像和液体中生物样品的特性分析的工作原理和操作方案。
