TY - JOUR
T1 - Atomic force microscopy
T2 - A powerful tool to observe biomolecules at work
AU - Engel, Andreas
AU - Lyubchenko, Yuri
AU - Müller, Daniel
N1 - Funding Information:
We are indebted to Shirley Müller for discussing the manuscript and to Simon Scheuring for providing Fig. 2 . The work presented here has been supported by the Swiss National Foundation, the NIH and the Maurice E. Müller Foundation of Switzerland.
PY - 1999/2/1
Y1 - 1999/2/1
N2 - Atomic force microscopes (AFMs) move a sharp tip attached to a soft contilever in a TV-raster-like pattern over a surface and record deflections of the tip that correspond to the surface topography. When operated in physiological solutions, an AFM allows biomolecules to be observed in their native environment. Progress in instrumentation, sample-preparation methods and recording conditions has provided images of biomolecules and their assemblies that reveal submolecular details. In addition, the AFM allows conformational changes to be observed directly. This article discusses these points and illustrates them with some pertinent examples.
AB - Atomic force microscopes (AFMs) move a sharp tip attached to a soft contilever in a TV-raster-like pattern over a surface and record deflections of the tip that correspond to the surface topography. When operated in physiological solutions, an AFM allows biomolecules to be observed in their native environment. Progress in instrumentation, sample-preparation methods and recording conditions has provided images of biomolecules and their assemblies that reveal submolecular details. In addition, the AFM allows conformational changes to be observed directly. This article discusses these points and illustrates them with some pertinent examples.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0962-8924(98)01415-9
DO - 10.1016/S0962-8924(98)01415-9
M3 - Review article
C2 - 10087624
AN - SCOPUS:0033084066
SN - 0962-8924
VL - 9
SP - 77
EP - 80
JO - Trends in Cell Biology
JF - Trends in Cell Biology
IS - 2
ER -